"...insist that the Confederacy return the proper ownership of all occupied systems to the corporations or councils that have historically proven ownership," a Lanaktallan was saying, standing up. His fervent belief in what he was speaking about made him tremble.

"ENOUGH!" Dreams slammed the chrome donorcycle chain against the top of the podium, cracking the surface and making the smart-plas squeal with feedback as it was destroyed.

"What part of 'unconditional' do you not understand?" the small gold mantid snapped. "You don't get to give terms. You don't get to set the conditions. You certainly don't get to demand anything but 'please don't shoot me and my family in the face and glass my planet' to me."

She swung the chain back and forth as she snapped the switchblade open and shut.

One of the Lanaktallan stood up, his crests inflated and his feeding tendrils trembling. "Yet we all know that the Mad Lemurs of Terra are extinct!" he shouted. "Your vaunted Confederate Space Force is a husk, a shell, without the Mad Lemurs of Terra, and everyone here knows it! Everyone present knows you are presenting this outrageous demand in hopes that we will not call your bluff. Well, I for one, refuse to kneel to such madness when your military forces have been destroyed!"

Dreams turned and pointed at one of the Mekaneks standing near here.

"Do you know what that is?" she asked, mildly.

"A cyborg. A disgusting melding of lemur and machine," the diplomat said.

"So, one of the Mad Lemurs of Terra encased in a robot body?" she asked.

"Harumph, yes."

"And what is that?" Dreams asked, pointing at a Terran holding a blaster rifle, dressed in adaptive camouflage with battleplates on it.

"A Confederate infantryman," another said.

"And what is he?" Dreams asked.

"A lemur," the outraged speaker said, disdain dripping from his voice.

"THEN THEY AREN'T EXTINCT, ARE THEY?" Dreams shouted, her temper fraying.

The gathered members of the Council drew back from the feedback squealing laced shout.

"You seem to be under the impression that we were holding Terran Descent Humanity back," Dreams said after composing herself. "You seem to think that without the Terrans, we won't be able to prosecute this war to the finish. You seem to think that because I represent the Terran Confederacy of Aligned Systems, I am some kind of restraint upon Terran Descent Humanity," she said. She adjusted her beret slightly with the tip of one bladearm.

"You are wrong," she stated.

She pointed at the lightly armored human, a Mosizlak now carrying a rifle and no longer ensuring that his charge did not meddle maliciously with technology.

"Terran Descent Humanity holds the rest of us back," she said simply. "Without them, without the Pubvians, we would return to our way of making interstellar war. Planet cracking, glassing, nova sparks, bioweapons, chemical weapons, orbital strikes on populated areas. We would crush your civilian populace and then institute pogroms to ensure that they were never more than food, cattle, and servants."

The entire assembly drew back slightly.

"We are here, not because you have us on the edge of defeat and we are bluffing, but because we, the Diplomatic Corps of the Terran Confederacy, know that there is a limited window of time to save you," Dreams said.

"Or you're people will descend upon ours?" A Lanaktallan sneered. "We defeated you once."

"No," Dreams interrupted. "Not to save you, save us, but to save all of us from a dire threat."

"Bah, the Atrekna will be dealt with, just as they were the last time. We have top Lanaktallan working upon a solution," another Lanaktallan said.

The door opened and a squad of Lanaktallan Executor Security Forces trotted in, carrying weapons.

Their armor was blistered, slagged in spots. The leader was limping, his face shield up to show his sweaty face. The others all looked around, their weapons pointed at the floor.

The Terrans turned and faced the Lanaktallans.

"Ah, Most High Tu'urnmo'o," one of the diplomats said, his voice thick with pleasure. "Shoot this fool and eject the Terrans from the planet," he said, pointing at Dreams.

The leader of the strike force, Tu'urnmo'o, looked at Dreams and nodded. "Madame Diplomat, the building and the city are secure."

"Excellent," Dreams purred. She turned back to the Lanaktallan assemblybeings. "I am warning you, you only have a limited window. A year, a decade at the most, before doom befalls us all. A greater threat to the Galactic Spur is growing, and unconditional surrender is the only thing that can save you."

The Lanaktallan frowned as Most High Tu'urnmo'o moved up and shook the unarmored Terran's hand.

"You have no Terrans, your military is decimated. What threat is there?" another assemblybeing asked.

"That shows the limitations of your system, not ours," Dreams said. "Without the Lanaktallan your 'Great Herd' is a handful of what you term neo-sapients conscripted, poorly trained, and handed a substandard weapon."

Dreams waved at the large Treana'ad warrior in heavy armor. He had two semi-autonomous short barrel quad-miniguns on his back, and a pair of 40mm mortars toward the back of his armor, a grenade launcher on one shoulder with a rocket launcher on the other, carrying a magac/grenade launcher combo.

"The Treana'ad Infantry Hordes are part of the Confederate Military, just as the Treana'ad are a member species of the Terran Confederacy. Just because Terran Descent Humanity has gone virtually extinct does not mean that now the military is empty," Dreams said. "We not only have the vast resources of the other member species, but we still have the tactics, doctrine, weapons, ships, industrial support, sheer numbers, and willpower to not only prosecute this war to the full extent, but without Terran Descent Humanity's ethics and morals holding us back, we can do properly, the old way."

The Treana'ad spun the barrels on the two miniguns for a moment.

"Our cultural exchanges, our technology exchanges, have all made it so that even without Terran Descent Humanity, we are not helpless, and we can finish this war," Dreams said. "And we need to finish it quickly. Your people, and mine, are fighting multiple opponents. Unlike mine, your people are hilariously outclassed by all the combatants. Without the Confederacy's military actions, any of the additional opponents would have already destroyed you utterly in the four years since I was last here."

There was some shock and dismay.

"So, now you threaten us?" another Lanaktallan asked.

"YES!" Dreams shouted. "I am here for the unconditional surrender of the Unified Council, under the threat of Total War being prosecuted against your people so we can knock the Unified Council out of the way and concentrate on the Precursor Autonomous War Machines, the Dwellerspawn, and the Atrekna. This isn't a threat or a bluff, this is a promise that if you don't surrender, we'll just push this war to the hilt and let you bleed out in the gutter."

The Lanaktallan who had spoken sat down, feeling nervous.

"But even then, there is a threat larger than the Atrekna or the Dwellerspawn out there, right now, building. Breeding, building, consolidating, and it will come out of the darkness and leave nothing but shattered stars and cosmic dust in its wake," Dreams warned. "Your surrender will save you from this terrible menace out there in the darkness of the stars."

One of the Lanaktallan spit the plas strands of a depleted nutricud on the floor. "Oh, what is this terrible threat? More 'Atrekna Assaults' or something just as hysterical?" he sneered.

"Not hysterical. I am speaking of one of the universe's premier tool using predators. An omnivore. A psychically active and suppressing pursuit hunter. A xenocidal, xenophobic, hyper-aggressive predator that stops at nothing to achieve its goals. This thing is out there, somewhere. We know it's out there, we don't know where, and it's building up its strength, licking its wounds, and vowing that once it heals up, they will never submit and will slaughter everything in their way," Dreams said.

"Now you're trying to scare us with tales of monsters out in the dark?" Another Lanaktallan scoffed. "There is nothing out there but primitive species and empty stars."

"Just like there was no Precursor Autonomous War Machines out in the Long Dark so it was safe to send unarmed and under-equipped colonies out into it?" Dreams shot back.

"So, you claim there is some great threat to us, and your Confederacy, in its magnanimous mercy, seeks to protect us from it?" Another Lanaktallan scoffed. "Or do you mean the remains of the nearly extinct Terran Descent Humanity, which will undoubtably just wither away and die. That we should be afraid of some dying lemur species?"

That got laughter.

Dreams started laughing with them, then cut her laughter short with a sharp impact to the fractured and broken top of the podium with her donorcycle chain.

The Lanaktallan went silent.

"No," Dreams said. Her voice grew soft. "You have seen Terran Descent Humanity," she said. She pointed at the former Mosizlak, then at Admiral Smith. "You have only seen the end result of eight or nine thousand years of self-adjusting, self-restraining, self-gentling, not what is out there, right now."

"And what is that?" the Lanaktallan sneered.

"Humanity," Dreams said, her voice quiet. "Real humanity. Unchained. Un-gentled. Unrestrained. The humanity that used nuclear weapons on their own people before they developed the technology to go to space. The species that, if unrestrained, will simply slaughter everything in their way and rule over the ashes, building their monuments and castles from all of our skulls."

Some of the Lanaktallan laughed.

Others stared at the Mosizlak, with his blaster rifle, and chewed thoughtfully on their cud.

"The Confederacy has a unique feature that none of you know about," Dreams said. "Something that makes us uniquely qualified to warn you of what is about to happen. Maybe not today, maybe even not tomorrow or next year. But it will. We know, because we've seen it, we've experienced it, we've endured it, and were wise enough to survive it."

"And what is that?" A Lanaktallan Grand Most High of nearly two hundred systems sneered.

"We all have fought humanity, with exactly one exception," Dreams said. "The Rigellians. They were suffering an ecological collapse when the Terrans arrived. They had tried for centuries to solve it, but with their technology, no, with their methods, there was no way to solve it. They watched the Terrans fight their own homeworld, watched the Terrans fight a planet to save them."

There was still some sneers.

"The Treana'ad, a race of tens of billions, faced off against humanity in it's infancy in regards to space exploration and expansion," Dreams said. "They, among all of us, managed to accomplish something no other species, not even the Autonomous War Machines, have managed."

"What is that?" Asked a Lanaktallan who's worlds he 'oversaw' were all under control of the Precursors or the Confederacy.

"A victory rate of 28.84% in combat engagements against the Terrans when they had no combat allies aside from themselves," Dreams said. She looked at the information on her eye-implant. "Your people have exactly two victories against the Confederacy, giving you a 0.005% victory rate."

There was silence.

"That was billions of Treana'ad warriors against the Terrans. There were more Treana'ad warrior caste under arms than the entire Terran Descent Humanity population," Dreams said. "Even back then, Terrans adhered to what they called the 'Rules of Warfare', among which was to treat surrendered or otherwise incapacitated enemies with dignity and to avoid damage to civilian infrastructure and civilian deaths as much as possible."

Dreams shook her head. "But that's not what is out there in the dark. Not now. Not this time."

One of the Lanaktallan stood up. His worlds were either occupied by the Terrans, had been returned to the neo-sapients, occupied by the Atrekna, or had been burned to a cinder by the PAWM. He represented nothing but several hundred defeated systems.

"Can you explain, Madame Speaker?" he asked. "There are Terrans beside you. Are these not the same thing?"

Dreams pointed at Admiral Smith and the Mosizlak again. "These are Terran Descent Humanity."

She tapped the podium with her switchblade. "You're going to be facing Earthlings."

Admiral Smith shivered, obvious to everyone.

"An Earthling will not only glass your planet, but then carve a message to everyone that they did and they're proud of doing it, and if anyone has any objections, they'll glass them too," Dreams said. "They will kill you, everyone who looks like you, glass your planet, then planet-crack them, then nova-spark the whole system, then rebuild it and act like that's how it's always been."

Dreams shook her head.

"Our people are as old as the Lanaktallan," she leaned forward, flashing an icon for smugness. "We have your databases, so we know everything you know."

She shifted back. "So we know everything that all of our allies know, our allies can confirm all of this, and we know everything that all of you know, and I can tell you, none of you have any idea, those of you who came after the Great Glassing, exactly what is out there."

She let the silence build for a long moment.

"The Terrans, the Humans, the Earthlings, they have a belief that is unique to their species. Out of all of their beliefs, this belief is unique. No other species has made this belief a guiding principle of their species," Dreams said. "While others might give lip service to it, the Earthlings, they live this belief."

She shook her head.

"The Earthlings have always said: Hope for the best," she said. She waited, seeing the Lanaktallan all start to nod. She flashed an emoji for care. "Prepare for the worst."

The Lanaktallan looked confused.

"That is entirely reasonable. Many believe that this is a perfectly logical belief," one Lanaktallan said.

"A belief, yes," Dreams said. "They, and obviously you, hold it as a belief."

"Then why is it so fearsome?" the same one scoffed. "They're just like any other neo-sapient."

Dreams flashed icons of laughter.

"Except, the humans, the Earthlings, they put it into practice. It seeps into everything they do. Everything they believe. From their belief of a malevolent universe, to their motto that you can always take your enemy with you, to their absolutely cemented conviction anything is an option when protecting themselves, their allies, or what they feel are 'the innocent', including planet cracking an entire species out of existence."

Dreams brought up several images on the Tri-Vee behind her.

One showed a Terran surrounded by a pile of bodies still fighting, using a broken weapon and a knife to kill their opponent, often fighting so many at a time they were surrounded. After a few minutes, he stood alone, covered in biofluids and scraps of flesh, staring at the camera, their eyes glowing red and their teeth bared.

Another showed a Terran child stabbed through the chest by a Mantid warrior. She opened her hand and let an implosion grenade drop even as she screamed around the blood filling her lungs. The image vanished in white.

Another showed a Terran getting up, one arm blown off, a tourniquet around the biceps, firing a pistol with one hand in the face of enemies swarming at him.

She froze the images.

"Those are Terran Descent Humans," Dreams said. She turned on the other images. Unarmored Terrans fighting with ballistic weapons, charging into artillery, even clashing with swords.

"These are the Earthlings of eight or nine thousand years ago," Dreams said softly. "They do not stop. Ever. Until they win or all of you are dead."

She tapped another control and the screen filled with images taken from drones or from ship sensors. World after world full of dead Terrans. Terrans falling over dead in mid stride.

"This is Terran Descent Humanity, they are virtually all gone," Dreams said. "However, they prepare for the worst. Part of this was sharing every bit of technology and information with their allies upon their extinction, in hopes that, in some way, it would enable us to survive even though they are gone."

Dreams sighed. "We have found hints. Hints of terrible projects that ensure that humanity, that Earthlings, do not vanish forever, do not go extinct. Of colonies hidden out in the darkness, the colonists in cryostasis or even Thrint Stasis Fields, in case TerraSol is lost."

Dreams tapped her switchblade on the podium.

"You are not only beset upon by multiple foes, but right now, at this very second, the Terrans believe that what happened was a Unified Council bioweapon attempt to gentle them which, instead, killed all but three out of every hundred thousand. Your only choice is to surrender, in which case, by our laws, we are bound to protect you. We are bound to use all of our military might to defend you from our mutual foes," Dreams said.

She shook her head. "But that requires you to surrender unconditionally to the Terran Confederacy of Aligned Systems."

A Lanaktallan stood up. "What if the Earthlings arrive to exterminate us?"

Dreams nodded, flashing an icon for understanding. "Then the Confederacy will stop them. Your surrender is unconditional. If you don't surrender, we will burn away your worlds rather than devote the manpower to occupy them and the blame will be solely with you."

She tapped her datallink, sending out the treaty. "Sign this, or don't. Those of you who sign it, and abide by the surrender terms, will be protected and treated according to that treaty."

She tapped the podium with her switchblade.

"Those of you who do not sign, hostilities with commence within seventy-two hours of your refusal to sign this agreement. Another agreement will not be offered until Confederate military leaders have determined that at least one quarter of your infrastructure and your population has been eliminated," she said.

"And with any luck, we'll get things under control before the Earthlings arrive," Dreams said.

"What if you cannot?" a delegate asked after signing the document without reading it.

"Then they'll kill everyone in their way," Dreams said.

"How do you know?" another Lanaktallan asked.

"Because they've done it before and we, their allies, know that they'll do it again," Dreams said somberly. She pointed at the Galactic Arm Spur, then slowly moved her bladearm to point at the galactic arm coreward. "They did it, unknown to all of us, as little as three hundred years ago, burning the Mar-gite from existence."

She leaned forward.

"And by now, the Earthlings hiding in the Dark know what has happened. That their children have been murdered."

She leaned back.

"And they will be back."

------------

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Think they'll sign?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

They better.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

AKLTAK SOARING WORLDS

Are you serious about the Earthlings being out there?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

LANAKTALLAN FREE HERD

Are they really out there?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

You're just saying that to scare them, right?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

PUBVIAN DOMINION

No. She didn't tell them the truth. Earthlings aren't anything like she made it sound.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

Whew.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

PUBVIAN DOMINION

They're worse.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---