Captain Perneas sat conversing with the Admirals. Little did they know, he was also conversing with the Meson through his telepathic link.
'So,' Said Molex Reeves with a minimum of throat-clearing, 'I take it the Meson are well-versed in weapons technology, and could easily crush the ESF in no time. Yet, this begs the question, why would they offer an alliance at all? If they can simply swat us out of the way like so many insects, then why not do just that?'
Captain Perneas considered his reply carefully. He had not been entirely honest in this conference when he said the Meson were 'all-powerful.'
'To answer that question to the full, I would need to convey the political, military, and religious dealings of the Ormeda galaxy for the past 6 billion years. As none of you have a telepathic link, this is impossible. Won't you accept the Meson might be altruistic in their ways?'
'Quite frankly no' Cut in Admiral DuPont indignantly. 'We've seen Meson fight the Naarad, and you just told us the Meson are allied with the Naarad. What kind of alliance is that?'
Captain Perneas felt annoyed by the persistant difficulties the somewhat mysterious past the Meson had had with the Naarad. He waited for an answer from his own inside sources.
'Once again Admiral DuPont, you ask for a full explanation on the machinations of the Ormeda galaxy, something I cannot give in moments. If you want the simplest answer, it is that relations between Meson and Naarad are degrading very rapidly.'
'So they're about to slug it out with each other?' Asked Murda.
'It's a possibility, especially if you ally with the Meson.'
Admiral DuPont stood up.
'I think I've heard enough' he said. 'Our friend has just explained the truth of this entire matter. The Meson want to use humanity as a convenient military base for the conquest of these Naarad. All this talk of altruism and diplomatic kindness is... is...' Unable to come to a suitable adjective, he stormed out of the room.
Molex Reeves coughed politely.
'I apologise for the Admiral's conduct. He should not have done that.'
'No, wait a minute.' Said Naccali, his brow furrowed in thought. 'He did have a point there.'
There were murmerings of agreement. Perneas readied himself for the next stage of his explanation. Now he had them ready.
'To start off, the Meson is not the only superpower in the galaxy with abilities to crush vast swathes out of primitive races like humanity. Also, it is rather naive to think that humans have only been encountered, and encountered, by alien races in the past 150 million years of your evolution. To start with, the Meson discovered intelligent life on Earth 75,375 years B.C.'
There were some uneasy stirrings on the council table. The demure head of the science officer looked up.
'What?' She said.
'What the Meson did with this knowledge is not entirely clear to me, but I have reason to believe they left the system and cataloged it for future reconnaisance trips. In all likelihood the primitive beings on the planet's surface would not evolve the intelligence necessary to first, build up a scientific culture, and secondly, survive the 3 stages of a developing species.
'However, the Human race of beings did do this, and began to expand aggressively out into space - space that was fiercely contested by 4 highly advanced alien species.'
'So why didn't humanity encounter any of these races? Why weren't we destroyed?' Interrupted the science officer, now deeply involved in the conversation.
'The fighting was mainly concentrated along the Som boundary, ironically this parallels the Union/ESF boundary you know today. But even so, you're space overlapped that of a very powerful alien faction, which had claimed dominance over the area from almost the beginning of the conflict. Doubtless they knew of your existence inside the Sol system. Why they never contacted you is a complete mystery, even to us.
'The Technon were an extremely strange race. They were, machinated. Not organic, and yet, exhibited none of the properties one can expect in an artificial intelligence. The space in that sector was thoroughly valuable, and none of the races would relinquish control of it. The only reason the battle ended, was basically because it had to end.
'An extremely strong etheric wave originating near Sol spread out in a 100 light year radius and cut off all ether travel to the fleets of the aliens. All travel except of course the Technon, who were presumed to have triggered the device. They systematically wiped the alien bases, installed small scale etheric disrupters along the Som boundary, and retreated into their newly conquered space.
'Soon afterwards, they left their space for the Technon homeworld at the other end of the galaxy. The reason they gave was that they had been defeated by an extremely powerful alien race, - a race more powerful even than them. Ether devices were eventually built by the Duthul, Meson and Naarad, and sent scouts into the 'virgin' territories. When the scouts failed to return, they thought they had encountered a vastly superior race. Huge fleets were stationed along the Som boundary in preparation for a massive incursion of alien warships.
'This never happened, though the Zirzacht managed to establish a base inside the Som boundary, owing to a gap in the ether prevention systems. What they observed was extraordinary. A single race of beings, with very primitive technology, still playing around with the most crude of stardrives. Soon afterwards, the space along the Som boundary was conquered by the Naarad. We established bases there as well, with the onset of our alliance.'
There was a vast silence in the room.
'Now sadly our alliance must come to an end. There is no superpower here, no alien race with technology sufficient to wipe out all ether travel in a hundred light years.' Perneas seemed to sigh. 'Just another primitive race.'
'So you can see humans, your fate has been the fate of circumstances. Now, you must make your decisions. Without the Meson to aid you, humanity will become another footnote in a long history of violence towards primitive species by more advanced ones.'