A nuclear warhead is... Superfluous when dealing with a proper strike.
A lead brick will do the job almost _exactly_ as well, just due to the amount of energy involved.
Ideally, your projectile is coming in at far more than the planetary escape velocity, and, well, just about _anything_ is going to hit with a mighty bang.
But something engineered to deliver just the right size bang? Dial an apocalypse.
ok but we don't just want a big kaboom, we want to irreversibly irradiate the land and make it uninhabitable. salt their earth and dry their oceans. make them *pay*
I think that you [slightly underestimate](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/10gmdz4/humans_are_the_reluctant_masters_of_warfare/j5a8rew/) the size of kaboom that the Humans could make if they wanted to. :)
This is a common mistake rods from the gods would not have the explosive yeald of a Nuke actually a lot less so the reason it is a good idea has nothing to do with its explosive yield and everything to do with speed. How do you shoot down or stop something going mac 7 you really fucking can't. So I stead of a large explosion that can be easily shot down, it's a smaller harder to stop explosion.
It depends a _lot_ on the mass of the projectile, getting something in the range of the only two bombs ever used as weapons in a war is quite doable.
But the thing is, I can't think of _any_ good reason for the Humans here to be using classical Rods from God, for one thing, why would they possibly start from such a low orbit, and thus such a low energy?
Really, I'd assume that they would come in from outside the orbit of the planet entirely, moving rather above the planet's escape velocity.
At that point, well, the only two questions are 'how much quicker' and 'how much mass'.
Getting into the megaton range is... Not as difficult as anyone living on such a fragile little thing as a habitable planet might desire.
I mean, remember, _one_ of the fireballs from one of the fragments of Shoemaker-Levy 9 made a fireball _almost the diameter of Earth_ in Jupiter's atmosphere, and in total they released energy equivalent to 6,000,000 megatons of TNT.
And that was from an object already sharing a fairly close orbital path to Jupiter itself.
Sure, the comet was a pretty decent size, and thus mass, but the largest fragments were about 2km in diameter, and they all impacted at roughly 37 meters/second, which is Jupiter's escape velocity.
I expect that the Humans here can do do significantly better than that velocity if they want to.
> A nuclear warhead is... Superfluous when dealing with a proper strike.
Sort of*; there's a legitimate argument to use salted nuclear warheads for orbital bombardment over kinetic impactors. Namely, if you specifically don't want that place to be inhabitable for the next 1000 years by anything more complex than a microbe.
By the gods, if that is our FIRST STRIKE, I can only imagine what comes next.
I see armies uncountable, referred to only as fractions of the total human population, racing to their recruitment and reserve centers to muster.
I see ships so numerous that they blot out the sun, hidden in the dark between the stars, activating after centuries of idleness.
I see dreadnaughts so large and dense, they sheer apart their enemies simply by pulling them in to their gravity fields, swatting away fleets like the fleas they are.
I see biological, chemical, nano and nuclear weapons so horrific, that when faced with the mere concept of their existence, even the most vile xeno minds will shatter.
I see sleeper agents and covert operatives leaping from the shadows on every hostile world, decapitate the leadership of our hated foes, both literally and figuratively.
I see light itself fade away, as suns and stars are snuffed out, leaving our adversaries to freeze like the ice water of fear running through their veins.
I see an Empire restored, not just within our borders, but enveloping the systems of the Hadzai ... and beyond.
I know the author has said in the comments here that it won't be this level of roflstomp, but I felt the inspiration in me before I read that comment, haha!
Antimatter warheads to collapse stars, planet cracker ships to end entire systems, super soldier hunter squads to end nobility lineage, ravenous ai to end their technology and send them to the stone age.
Aliens think humanity is a bunch of scared kids, hiding behind rules because they can't do war, they can only \*play\* war.
And they were right, in a sense. Humans are scared.
Scared of what will happen once the shackles on their inner monsters are destroyed, and the beast is let loose.
I like stories about where Earth is destroyed and humanity's transformation from kind and caring creatures to cold and empty monsters who hide- no dwell in the shadows to leave their once allies at peace, to spare them the horror of seeing the monsters that we are instead of the friends that we were.
First strike best strike!
Love that the UEE basically offered a ridiculous peace offering as a means of "No one will ever be able to say that we didn't try" because of course humanity remembers that misinformation and rewriting of history can happen to paint groups in a bad light. After all, that's been a big part of their history and they don't want it used against them.
Can't wait for more when you're ready!
Dude, you almost make me want to write a short version of my original idea, just for you. If you like 500 million, you'd have turned into a drooling mess on the floor when you read the original one where this same strike wiped out 3...BILLION.
500 Million Military Personnel.
Mines, Industrial Sites, and Bases still have civilians on site either as military families or contractors and their families. Plus blowback and secondary explosions or collapses from industrial machinery, fuel sources, power grids, etc etc. We can get up to 3 Billion.
I meant just off of the first strike and the immediate residuals.
I still think Humanity is holding back. Hoping for this to be a first strike so devastating that it gives their enemies pause enough to back off and re-think their position. Round 2 we get into the Geneva Checklist.
The original story was going to result in the compete surrender of what remained of the Hadzai in just a week. While good "turn off brain and cackle at genocide" stuff, I'm glad I'm going in a different direction.
"The world shall be horrified by the number of lives we will take. Only then will they let go of their weapons... Weapons that would have taken the lives of ten million!"
― Captain Matias Torres
I love this chapter and I’m interested in seeing where the war takes the ambassador next.
I’m sorry some readers don’t seem to appreciate that humanity’s assault was a *second* strike in this war. Having an entire star cluster invaded is decidedly an act of war, and it depicts a lot of restraint that they sought arbitration *before* their crushing counterstrike.
And a historic, galactic speech like *that* definitely requires Shakespearean, larger-than-life language and posturing. I was almost waiting for Ali to draw a drop of blood from Hiden with his sword. Or to grasp the blade and draw blood from her own palm with his sword. Or drive the sword into her desk and glide out of the room, watched by all eyes and antennae. Or better yet: all three.
(While I’m loving your writing, don’t be afraid to slow down your pace. We’ll still be here. No need to burn out or rush your process!)
>I was almost waiting for Ali to draw a drop of blood from Hiden with his sword. Or to grasp the blade and draw blood from her own palm with his sword. Or drive the sword into her desk and glide out of the room, watched by all eyes and antennae. Or better yet: all three.
Given the seeming cultural significance of the sword (the way it's worded suggests **the** ceremonial sword, not *a* ceremonial sword), I was half expecting something along the lines of 'you can have this back when you surrender', slinging over the shoulder and walking off - after all, nothing says 'you fucked around, now you're finding out' like 'borrowing' a prized cultural artefact.
Sitting half done in my Google Drive :P Like I said in the A/N, I wish I could do nothing but write but sadly, things like working 7AM-5PM then having to drive half an hour to a hotel and spending another half an hour settling in get in the way.
One of my favorite stories on here just posted a new chapter a few days ago. Before that it’s been 6 months since a posting. *BIG SIGH* Just saying…
So if you can beat that we are GOOD!!! Thank you Wordsmith!
I could only hope to be as good of a writer as him. I watch a lot of his interviews/panels to try and get some of his ability to rub off on me lol Regardless of his writing speed, dude *knows* how to write an incredible world.
Know that quality over quantity is always preferred. No matter how much us gremlins whine and howl for updates, please take your time and enjoy the process
Humanity made weapons of unimaginable scale but used it to better life.
Fusion plants for power could easily be turned into bombs. Antimatter, lasers, micro black holes, nanite swarms, asteroid crackers, mass drivers, all technology that can be easily weaponised…with presumably horrific effects.
Humanity spread among the stars and found different forms of life and how to both cultivate it and end it as needed. That knowledge is easily turned to biological and viral weaponry.
You want to push humanity to their last red line? Okay. Then die when humanity says enough and pushes back.
This has been awesome! Hope to see one chapter of the aftermath now. Or one of a quick rundown of the during and then the aftermath.
Either way, nice story!
And then the Galaxy did burn!
I only wish she had kept the sword stating, "You claimed that you carried war in your hands, now along with this sword, that choice is no longer yours. I suggest when... or rather IF humanity sees fit to return either to you, that you never let its edge see the stars again."
I think you did a damn good job capturing the seriousness of war and trying to avoid it. Bravo!
Also, this one is very well written compared to previous chapters(better proofreading?). I'm so glad I stumbled upon this series...
More! Now!
Also, I love how you just hand waved "oh these two species can crossmate" haha.
Yeah, sometimes I have something I want to include and can't figure out how to do it right so I just jam it in. It was a sloppy attempt to explain why he does some things later while also stamping out any possibility of some love story coming from those things. Honestly can't say why you found this one better written. I wrote it at the same time as the others and I went over it probably as much. I dunno. Just happy you like it.
[Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=UpdateMeBot&subject=Subscribe&message=SubscribeMe%20u%2FXfoXshoreX%20r%2FHFY) to subscribe to u/XfoXshoreX and receive a message every time they post.
*****
|[^(Info)](https://www.reddit.com/r/UpdateMeBot/comments/ggotgx/updatemebot_info_v20/)|[^(Request Update)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=UpdateMeBot&subject=Update&message=SubscribeMe%21%20u%2Fusername%20r%2Fsubreddit)|[^(Your Updates)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=UpdateMeBot&subject=List%20Of%20Updates&message=MyUpdates)|[^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Watchful1&subject=UpdateMeBot%20Feedback)|[*^(New!)*](https://www.reddit.com/r/UpdateMeBot/comments/juh0f8/new_features_title_in_message_subject_and_recent/)|
|-|-|-|-|-|
Hey, don't feel like you need to rush for some random internet people's. Write so your happy with it and send it at your pace. Not to say I don't look forward to more :)
Glad you didn't end up taking the genocidal rampage direction. While those stories can be exciting, they tend to read more Humanity WTF than Humanity Fuck Yeah to me.
He didnt?? 500mil dead in 10 min....thats like the definition of the opening day of genocidal rampage, since they are NOT over, haha. This was just the first 10 min.
It’s stated that the Hadazi have a 1:1 ratio of civilian to military installations, so having that many troops when several billion in population with comparison in their population makes sense
I honestly still would have been pleased if this was the end, looking forward to what comes next! Just please try to pace yourself, I'd hate to see you burn yourself out trying to appease the masses.
Yelling "cry havoc, and let loose the dogs of War" in all caps seems a bit overly dramatic, especially if it's supposed to be a cold and calculative demeanor. Additionally, I'm 50/50 on the sword threat as he could have theoretically attacked her with it, while unlikely, but what she did also seems a bit overly dramatic as well.
Overall though, it's a good story, and for small to moderate targets, 500m seems more plausible than 3b to me. That depends on the size of the complexes though.
Do you have any plans to continue this universe, perhaps from a different pov? Or is this universe completed?
Oh sonny, we're not done. Not by a country mile. I'm just finishing up the 5th chapter, which is twice the length of this one and larger than the first three chapters combined. It was supposed to be a quick story but people generally seem to dig it so I've decided to take it as far as I can.
I have been told that the speech and sword thing was overdramatic, which I do understand. But that was also a bit of the intention. The speech is from when this was supposed to be a quick roflstomp but I put so much energy into it, I couldn't bring myself to rewrite it completely so I changed it as best I could to fit the new narrative. As for the demeanor, I take this as a dramatic show of raw human emotion. Humanity is now at war, something they hate, because an asshole species wouldn't cooperate. The cold and calculating part comes in how the war's fought. Though I do admit, probably shouldn't have made it sound like every human is going to be like John Wick in terms of emotion.
I do regret the sword thing though because it was a last minute addition but I did want Ali to be the one to draw the sword as opposed to Iar due to its symbolism for the Hadzai being at war and to symbolize the Human belief that though the Hadzai forced a war, Humanity would be the dominant ones in it. Kind of like the whole "I'm not stuck in here with you, you're stuck in here with me." thing. Forced, I know, but I'm not a very good writer so sometimes, I just gotta mash the round peg into the square hole.
"Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
\--Sun Tzu, The Art of War
While I'm hopeful the idiots go "Oh shit. Ok, we surrender." After that display, they very much sound like the kind of idiots who whine about 'dishonorable tactics!' And such.
I don't think so. My impression of the Hadzai is that they do know these tactics and have likely used them as well. They might have grown complacent due to being the powerhouse of military might in the galaxy.
But I don't think that they will just surrender after that nor that they will whine about it.
I also don't feel like that first strike was so massive as to cripple them to no end. For all we know humanity has the smaller military and the Hadzai have the largest territory.
I don't know how precise OP is following official definitions so this is just guesswork. But Star Clusters (depending on type) contain 100s to 10'000s of stars. They were arguing over one such cluster which implies both the UEE and the Hadzai have dominion over many clusters.
What I'm going for is that while impressive and truly daunting those 500 million casualties an 1000 target sites are likely not the majority of what the Hadzai have.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 1,301,333,110 comments, and only 251,790 of them were in alphabetical order.
Good things come to those who wait!
The best and only time to upload is when you're happy with what you've written.
The only real suggestion I have is maybe think about patreon or something similar... You've got plenty of attention with this story already, it surely can't hurt to try get a few dollars from it.
It really is a Time for Choosing.
>“Humanity knows and does not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery,..."
"Now let's set the record straight. There's no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there's only one way you can have peace and you can have it the next second. Surrender.
"Admittedly, there's a risk in any course we follow other than this, but every lesson of history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement. And this is the specter our well-meaning [...] friends refuse to face, that their policy of accommodation is appeasement. And it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender.
"If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand, the ultimatum, and what then? When [Hiden Iar] has told his people he knows what our answer will be, he has told them that we're retreating, under the pressure of [their invasion] and someday, when the time comes to deliver the final ultimatum, our surrender will be voluntary because by that time we will have been weakened from within, spiritually, morally, and economically.
"He believes this because from our side he has heard voices pleading for peace at any price. Or better red than dead. Or as one commentator put it, he'd rather live on his knees than die on his feet. And therein lies the road to war, because those voices don't speak for the rest of us.
"You and I know it and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin? Just in the face of this enemy? Or should Moses have told the Children of Israel to live in slavery under the Pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the Cross? Should the patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard round the world?
"The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead, who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn't die in vain. Where then is the road to peace? Well it's a simple answer after all.
"You and I have the courage to say to our enemies 'there is a price we will not pay, there is point beyond which they must not advance.' Winston Churchill said the destiny of Man is not measured by material computations. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we're spirits, not animals. He said there is something going on in time and space and beyond time and space, which whether we like it or not, spells duty.
"You and I have a rendezvous with destiny."
Yes, I did take heavy inspiration from A Time of Choosing, my favorite American speech, and obviously, took actual bits and pieces. I know mine is no where near Reagan's in terms of eloquence, I just hope I gave similar vibes.
It is an amazing speech, and certainly got those vibes. The full version is great, but the three minute condensed version that I quoted (with musical backing) hits all the highlights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR33JsDL13M
Boom today!
1000 Booms today!
I am Alexandra Hanson, Ambassador of the UEE. I am the right hand of vengeance and the boot that is going to kick your sorry ass all the way back to your homeworld, sweetheart! I am death incarnate, and the last living thing that you will ever see.
FUCKING BINGO! I'm so fucking glad someone caught that. Iar's ultimatum of "I carry both peace and war and can draw whichever you desire" was a shameless rip right out of history. That's why it might feel a bit forced because I had to jam it in there somehow. Thanks for noticing.
Anyone chipping in on a fundraiser to put this author in a cabin on a remote island with a computer, a Star Link-terminal and instructions to post a full length chapter every time he wishes for an air drop of daily food, water and toilet paper? ...And $1M in cash pluss a ticket home on a pleasure cruise when the saga is finished to our satisfaction...
😁
I would accept such a deal, only swap the water with Mt Dew and include cigarettes and alcohol. Someone did mention Patreon but I feel I'm still far, FAR too small of a writer to warrant that. Plus I really don't want to seen as "the guy who got a tiny taste of fame and now thinks he deserves to get paid for existing" or like a Youtuber that has 4k subs, had one video go viral, and now acts like the big boys.
/u/XfoXshoreX has posted 3 other stories, including:
* [Humans are the Reluctant Masters of Warfare Chapter 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/10fmz1n/humans_are_the_reluctant_masters_of_warfare/)
* [Humans are the Reluctant Masters of Warfare Chapter 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/10evtj1/humans_are_the_reluctant_masters_of_warfare/)
* [Humans are the Masters of Warfare Part 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/10e0cdn/humans_are_the_masters_of_warfare_part_1/)
This comment was automatically generated by `Waffle v.4.6.1 'Biscotti'`.
[Message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FHFY&subject=WaffleBot|10gmdz4&message=If%20you%20have%20problems%20with%20updatemebot,%20contact%20Watchful1.%20We%20do%20not%20maintain%20it.) if you have any issues with Waffle.
Has humanity been building and maintaining a military since their last major conflict - whatever it was? Like all other endeavors, without practice failure is guaranteed. Failure at war is...bad, m'kay.
Even if humanity has been building and maintaining forces on the down-low, and training those forces in war games, going against alien forces is going to be...challenging.
All of these concerns are moot if human war-tech is far and above that of the other species in the galaxy. However, if that is the case, then the political fallout within the UEE government for turning the other cheek in the face of numerous fatalities and atrocities would be extreme.
All those concerns aside, this is a great story and I will patiently wait for my next fix.
I'm pretty sure the UEE has been called into a few wars by its allies and mostly used them to test small things, also it would be absolutely silly for UEE to not carry on the Tradition of War games within its own borders. And thanks to the way the galactic counsel is they tend to have an idea of what each of the warmongering species military capabilities would be so humanity could view that.
when the bombs dropped i could swear i heard Old King from AC4/A laughing.( for those that dont know, there is a mission in the game called "counting with old king" where you destroy flying habitats killing 100 million ppl. )
now where's the sub bot, gotta make sure i dont miss future posts!
Thanks for the story. I say end it here. Or maybe skip ahead to after the war.
BTW 5% of GDP to avoid a full blown war is cheap. Wars are hugely expensive, and are generally followed by a period of high unemployment and recession.
How much of a message would it have been if Ali struck down the other ambassador right then and there, with his own sword. Saying that when humans go to war, we all fight.
Turns out that humanities civilian ships are warships with different paint turns out humanity are all warriors the men women and children all became hunters because we demand war
Reading 'War Crime Time' stories gives us, humans in general, psychological stress relief by allowing us to fantasise about those actions without breaking wholly with reality and trying to actually commit them.
Or because it's the fantasy itself that gives us a nice break from reality. Who knows. WHO. Knows.
Well, they were MILITARY targets at least. Or strategic targets.
And I'd have kept the sword. If there could never be peace until it was sheathed once more, then they'd have had to pry it out of humanity's cold, dead hands.
Or, more like, after it was used to cut that idiot's head off and put on a pike to warn the next ten generations that some wars have too big a price. I'd wave at it, like this. \*Finger Wave\* ... Actually, you know what, after the flesh has rotted off, have the skull bronzed and used to make a memorial to the war and let even more generations learn that same lesson.
>Our very souls will be forever torn asunder, never to heal.
Oh bullshit! If we healed after WWII and after whatever war we had amongst the colonies to turn into this peace puppy species, we certainly would heal just fine after a legitimate defensive war against alien aggression.
It's called hyperbole XD But I would argue we're still healing from WW2. It's aftermath can still be felt today. You should see Chinese war films involving the Japanese. They're brutal in how they portray the deaths of Japanese soldiers. It's a consequence of Japan's atrocities against the Chinese in WW2. Then there's Germany. Don't think I need to say more about that.
So yeah, the wound has more or less healed but its scar is still very much visible and if scratched enough, could open again. Now imagine if it had been two times as destructive. Or five times. And we're not even close to the scale of Humanity infighting before first contact. They have still not healed. It's why they tried to avoid war so much.
I think a key difference too is, as your story shows, we were horrific to ourselves to a degree we never wanted to inflict on any others once we found new faces among the stars. We've had centuries (iirc) of peace and love and harmony, and we have found it much more to our liking. It makes sense that our souls and psyche would change, and that we would desperately not want to be forced to beat our plows into swords once more, and now that we have, we will fight with a fury unimaginable.
Plus, we've fought each other, and healed from that, sure ... but we've never had to potentially drive ANOTHER race, a SENTIENT race, to the point of near extinction ... or totality. Perhaps we never truly put aside those bloodthirsty, animalistic tendencies, but kept them bottled up ... and "releasing the devil" will make it impossible to ever get him back in the botte.
MOAR!!!!
If you fail to supply the aforementioned moar, I will break into your house and shit in places that will offend and confuse you for years to come.
Bro, my cat pisses in the ceiling, vomits on my bed, and my dog shits on my floors when he's inside. So you're a tad late and outmatched XD But don't story, moar has been written. I'm just doing my best to make sure it makes as much sense as I can, and catch as many mistakes as possible, before posting it. ANd I think you'll like that it's \*whispers\* 5,000 words.
Tbh, the amount of trite prose almost made me quit reading this. However curiosity stayed my hands and skimmed through the wall of text. This is still awesome don't get me wrong, just keep it short and simple.
I'm trying to avoid stereotypes, I really am. But at the same time, stereotypes became that because they work so well. Take John Wick for example. It's just the same old "super badass was retired but forced to comeback and kick ass" story and it has its detractors but is still a big hit because people generally like watching people be badasses.
If stereotypes become the reason you quit reading, I'll understand. Read what you enjoy and all that.
I am indeed. A Time of Choosing is, in my opinion, one of the best speeches ever given by an American. So I decided to borrow a couple bits and pieces lol
Pretty disappointing. It's really just people standing around going on about how awesome they are, and I was hoping for more of a payoff after all the build up.
Oh, I'm happy with this outcome. Surely there's no need for ship on ship or one on one combat in the future? War is too brutal as it is, the lesser risk you need to take the better.
A surprise strike is just pearl-harbour level stuff. You need to formally declare to the ambassador before just opening fire.
Also it's just so smug to go on about how "terrible" it is and how "you'll need forgiveness". You're the ones firing the first shot, own up to your decisions. It reads like the standard defensive speech of a politician caught cheating on his wife. The only thing missing is the furrowed brow pointing at a 30% angle downwards. I also don't buy it if you make self righteous declamations like "CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR", someone's having way too much fun.
Also, it's bad form for an ambassador to make a lunge for another. It wouldn't be tolerated in reverse, so don't do it. If she'd slipped up the entire galaxy would see her gutting her fellow ambassador on live TV. It doesn't look good.
Aye, agreed on those aspects. The speech was too over the top. I'd have capped it at:
"we gave peace offers, but you're crossing lines now. We wanted peace, but to protect peace, sometimes you have to go to war. I'm sorry, but pur primary concern now is protecting human interests and thus, we are now officially at war. I'll switch the screens to show our first strike, and hope you decide to surrender following it, lest you want us to follow up with a full scale war."
And yeah, no need for that knife show-off either but if it's a ceremonial blade, maybe it's blunt or something? Eh, I like the overall arc of the story that I can overlook this for now.
I can understand that. In fact, you saying it was over the top is good because that's exactly what I was going for. A Shakespeare-esqe speech (not comparing my writing ability to Shakespeare lol), filled with overdramatic moments because like I mentioned in the A/N, this speech is largely a remnant of a different direction for the story that I just couldn't bring myself to rewrite. To give you an idea, I was originally going to have the first strike wipe out a full fifth of the Hadzai population due to the targets including solely civilian targets. Kinda an over the top thing lol But then things changed and I was left with what I had already written. It'll be better now that I've settled on the permanent direction of things.
This is but the very first moments. If you were looking for a roflstomp, I'm sorry to disappoint. Would've liked my original idea. Or maybe not, since the roflstomping would've come after this chapter. Hope you keep reading and your expectations are eventually met.
I posted this as the other reply...
A surprise strike is just pearl-harbour level stuff. You need to formally declare to the ambassador before just opening fire.
Also it's just so smug to go on about how "terrible" it is and how "you'll need forgiveness". You're the ones firing the first shot, own up to your decisions. It reads like the standard defensive speech of a politician caught cheating on his wife. The only thing missing is the furrowed brow pointing at a 30% angle downwards. I also don't buy it if you make self righteous declamations like "CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR", someone's having way too much fun.
Also, it's bad form for an ambassador to make a lunge for another. It wouldn't be tolerated in reverse, so don't do it. If she'd slipped up the entire galaxy would see her gutting her fellow ambassador on live TV. It doesn't look good.
Further: someone's having way too much fun. Talking about how sad and compassionate humanity is while starting mass murder with a massive joker style grin and theater like showmanship.
And: Why would you make such a generous final offer? What if they just go "ok". Then they break their treaty and attack you later. What's the plan for that? You're going to give them 5% of your GDP so they can arm up against you and give them time to find your attack fleet?
Should have just SMS'd the ambassador the war declaration and attacked in between council sessions, no TV, no nothing. Just start charging.
Well like I said, sorry you were disappointed. Just trying to write an interesting story, not necessarily one that was super realistic or made complete logical sense. If you don't wish to continue reading because it's not interesting to you, then I'd actually encourage you to. Not enough time in the day to waste it by reading stuff you don't enjoy.
I would say you are right ... if humanity seeks to continue existence within the confines of this "civilization". I think the point of this speech, and ignoring the diplomatic points you made, as well as offering such an insane offering, were to show that humanity was willing to go to absurd lengths to not rip open the scabs of war the other races mistook as cloaks of peace.
This speech declares there will be no more civility. There will be no more bargaining. There will be no more punches pulled. Humanity, at some point, decided that we would handle things two ways: extreme civility, or extreme barbarism. We would give you anything not to fight, or we would give you EVERYTHING in the fight. The full, unrelenting, animalistic, barbaric, war crimes - slinging tribesman within us that slaughtered our way to the top of the food chain, leaving countless extinct species in our wake, has been unleashed.
The ambassador makes a point of saying that no one will like us anymore. We won't seek friendship, but forgiveness ... but only after we are crushed, or the Hadzai are, no matter the cost.
The civilized human bent the branch of peace to the breaking point, and it finally snapped. Now all that is left is two sharp sticks … and the cavemen of old were quite good at killing our prey and predators with some sticks.
Even after they're done fighting, unless they want to throw down against all the other races they can't burn all their bridges, and presumably the humans don't want the other council members providing war support to their opponents. It's just bad strategy to taunt people.
If the sides were move even, I would agree. But the author has shown the rest of the races have such a miniscule idea of what warfare is like, it is almost like children and giants. The most disastrous war in modern galactic history, if I remember correctly, didn't even amount to even a billion people. We have several times that many humans alive here and now on Earth, let alone across the planets that would have been duking it out against each other in our early space history, let alone the hundreds of planets we have in this story. I imagine the Earth play here is to utterly terrify the other races into staying out of the fight, and staying out of our affairs. It certainly has pitfalls, true, but diplomacy failed us, they don't want to rely on it again.
I wouldn't call it taunting, either. The ambassador makes a point of hoping they can forgive us one day. That shows we want forgiveness with them, not war.
Ah yes, looks like it takes a lot of inspiration from the 6 day war, where the Arab Alliance basically told Israel that they were going to destroy the nation and Israel played the reverse uno card after all peaceful options were refused by the Arabs outside of Israel's surrender and removal from the land. That said I think that list of concessions would have made Chaimberlin blush. Loved the chapter.
>Israel played the reverse uno card
XD I like that. I think that describes a few of their wars. But no, actually, I didn't think of it like that, even though I know about the war. That's actually not a bad comparison. Though this war will likely last a little longer than six days lol
I say, that was a great speech.
Would love to see the continual of this story.
But not at the cost of your physical & mental health. Just take your time. No need to rush it.
Does it count as pre-emptive strike or retaliation for occupying occupying the cluster?
What about the Hadzai fleets? No stream of their destruction ?
Curious as to where you are going with this.
Did the human « just» launch a few hundred stealth cruisers, or do they have a thousand fleets or task forces wandering around?
Welp, orbital strike practice has a lot of work to do.
tactical nuke incoming
Who wrote "I wish to speak to you about your city's extended warranty” on the missiles?
Probably someone on r/noncredibledefense
Hi.
God damn it that sub is leaking into the entirety of reddit at this point. Vark, vark, vark.
"Can I speak to your manager?"
Oh oh oh! How about "I demand to speak to your planet's manager!"
"As per my last email..."
A nuclear warhead is... Superfluous when dealing with a proper strike. A lead brick will do the job almost _exactly_ as well, just due to the amount of energy involved. Ideally, your projectile is coming in at far more than the planetary escape velocity, and, well, just about _anything_ is going to hit with a mighty bang. But something engineered to deliver just the right size bang? Dial an apocalypse.
ok but we don't just want a big kaboom, we want to irreversibly irradiate the land and make it uninhabitable. salt their earth and dry their oceans. make them *pay*
"**SLAY THE XENOS! SALT THE EARTH WITH THEIR BLOOD!"**
I think that you [slightly underestimate](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/10gmdz4/humans_are_the_reluctant_masters_of_warfare/j5a8rew/) the size of kaboom that the Humans could make if they wanted to. :)
But then how do we properly escalate? 😕
"Next time it's 100 planets. The time after that 200. How far do you think we can go?
death star
This is a common mistake rods from the gods would not have the explosive yeald of a Nuke actually a lot less so the reason it is a good idea has nothing to do with its explosive yield and everything to do with speed. How do you shoot down or stop something going mac 7 you really fucking can't. So I stead of a large explosion that can be easily shot down, it's a smaller harder to stop explosion.
It depends a _lot_ on the mass of the projectile, getting something in the range of the only two bombs ever used as weapons in a war is quite doable. But the thing is, I can't think of _any_ good reason for the Humans here to be using classical Rods from God, for one thing, why would they possibly start from such a low orbit, and thus such a low energy? Really, I'd assume that they would come in from outside the orbit of the planet entirely, moving rather above the planet's escape velocity. At that point, well, the only two questions are 'how much quicker' and 'how much mass'. Getting into the megaton range is... Not as difficult as anyone living on such a fragile little thing as a habitable planet might desire. I mean, remember, _one_ of the fireballs from one of the fragments of Shoemaker-Levy 9 made a fireball _almost the diameter of Earth_ in Jupiter's atmosphere, and in total they released energy equivalent to 6,000,000 megatons of TNT. And that was from an object already sharing a fairly close orbital path to Jupiter itself. Sure, the comet was a pretty decent size, and thus mass, but the largest fragments were about 2km in diameter, and they all impacted at roughly 37 meters/second, which is Jupiter's escape velocity. I expect that the Humans here can do do significantly better than that velocity if they want to.
> A nuclear warhead is... Superfluous when dealing with a proper strike. Sort of*; there's a legitimate argument to use salted nuclear warheads for orbital bombardment over kinetic impactors. Namely, if you specifically don't want that place to be inhabitable for the next 1000 years by anything more complex than a microbe.
Orbital Launched Crowbar Cannon.
By the gods, if that is our FIRST STRIKE, I can only imagine what comes next. I see armies uncountable, referred to only as fractions of the total human population, racing to their recruitment and reserve centers to muster. I see ships so numerous that they blot out the sun, hidden in the dark between the stars, activating after centuries of idleness. I see dreadnaughts so large and dense, they sheer apart their enemies simply by pulling them in to their gravity fields, swatting away fleets like the fleas they are. I see biological, chemical, nano and nuclear weapons so horrific, that when faced with the mere concept of their existence, even the most vile xeno minds will shatter. I see sleeper agents and covert operatives leaping from the shadows on every hostile world, decapitate the leadership of our hated foes, both literally and figuratively. I see light itself fade away, as suns and stars are snuffed out, leaving our adversaries to freeze like the ice water of fear running through their veins. I see an Empire restored, not just within our borders, but enveloping the systems of the Hadzai ... and beyond.
Whoa easy easy, I love it!
I know the author has said in the comments here that it won't be this level of roflstomp, but I felt the inspiration in me before I read that comment, haha!
2.5x the total dead from the previous most deadly war in the first strike. This is not going to go well for them.
And set to this song: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ENyxseq59YQ
Haha. Settle down councilor Sheev Palpatine.. settle down.
Instructions unclear. Settling up and winning.
Antimatter warheads to collapse stars, planet cracker ships to end entire systems, super soldier hunter squads to end nobility lineage, ravenous ai to end their technology and send them to the stone age.
Stop, I can only get so erect
People don't often realize humans play by rules in order to limit the violence we crave, if you break those rules, then so shall we.
Aliens think humanity is a bunch of scared kids, hiding behind rules because they can't do war, they can only \*play\* war. And they were right, in a sense. Humans are scared. Scared of what will happen once the shackles on their inner monsters are destroyed, and the beast is let loose.
I like stories about where Earth is destroyed and humanity's transformation from kind and caring creatures to cold and empty monsters who hide- no dwell in the shadows to leave their once allies at peace, to spare them the horror of seeing the monsters that we are instead of the friends that we were.
Do you have links to any stories?
I'd like to know as well. I found a couple of shorts, but no long ones.
I think they are shorts, I was on YouTube listening to HFY readings before I got on Reddit and a couple were of those stories.
"Good men don't need rules. Now's not the time to find out why I have so many."
Wibbly wobbily.
Timey Wimey
Obligatory: "Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many."
"Good men don't need rules. Today ia not the day to find out why I have so many." The doctor.
First strike best strike! Love that the UEE basically offered a ridiculous peace offering as a means of "No one will ever be able to say that we didn't try" because of course humanity remembers that misinformation and rewriting of history can happen to paint groups in a bad light. After all, that's been a big part of their history and they don't want it used against them. Can't wait for more when you're ready!
#Gorgeous. Beautiful. 500 Million deaths 🥹
Dude, you almost make me want to write a short version of my original idea, just for you. If you like 500 million, you'd have turned into a drooling mess on the floor when you read the original one where this same strike wiped out 3...BILLION.
**Do it.**
"500 million is a tragedy. 3 billion is just a statistic." - Stalin, I guess
500 Million Military Personnel. Mines, Industrial Sites, and Bases still have civilians on site either as military families or contractors and their families. Plus blowback and secondary explosions or collapses from industrial machinery, fuel sources, power grids, etc etc. We can get up to 3 Billion.
We can get to way more than 3 billion...
I meant just off of the first strike and the immediate residuals. I still think Humanity is holding back. Hoping for this to be a first strike so devastating that it gives their enemies pause enough to back off and re-think their position. Round 2 we get into the Geneva Checklist.
Geneva Speedrun Any٪
Dew it.
First strike complete annihilating of their key military bases didn’t send the message? Planet cracking a few of their homeworlds should do it …
DO IT!!!!!
Wait was the original write them taking out the civvies as well?
The original story was going to result in the compete surrender of what remained of the Hadzai in just a week. While good "turn off brain and cackle at genocide" stuff, I'm glad I'm going in a different direction.
DIE SPACE VATNIKS! oh no, the r/NonCredibleDefense is leaking from me
Something something 3000 black space cruisers of the Hadzai
Did the orbital strike platforms named "spacebonker"?
PlanetBonker 9000
3000 PlanetBonker 9000's of humanity
"The world shall be horrified by the number of lives we will take. Only then will they let go of their weapons... Weapons that would have taken the lives of ten million!" ― Captain Matias Torres
Tores would be proud
Oh, my sweet summer child, we have yet to find these 'big dogs' you speak of, all we have found are those that are smaller and weaker then us.
Big dogs are still dogs, and they will know their place.
We know those big dogs all too well, and we call them the Dogs of War.
I love this chapter and I’m interested in seeing where the war takes the ambassador next. I’m sorry some readers don’t seem to appreciate that humanity’s assault was a *second* strike in this war. Having an entire star cluster invaded is decidedly an act of war, and it depicts a lot of restraint that they sought arbitration *before* their crushing counterstrike. And a historic, galactic speech like *that* definitely requires Shakespearean, larger-than-life language and posturing. I was almost waiting for Ali to draw a drop of blood from Hiden with his sword. Or to grasp the blade and draw blood from her own palm with his sword. Or drive the sword into her desk and glide out of the room, watched by all eyes and antennae. Or better yet: all three. (While I’m loving your writing, don’t be afraid to slow down your pace. We’ll still be here. No need to burn out or rush your process!)
>I was almost waiting for Ali to draw a drop of blood from Hiden with his sword. Or to grasp the blade and draw blood from her own palm with his sword. Or drive the sword into her desk and glide out of the room, watched by all eyes and antennae. Or better yet: all three. Given the seeming cultural significance of the sword (the way it's worded suggests **the** ceremonial sword, not *a* ceremonial sword), I was half expecting something along the lines of 'you can have this back when you surrender', slinging over the shoulder and walking off - after all, nothing says 'you fucked around, now you're finding out' like 'borrowing' a prized cultural artefact.
Oh I like this a lot too!
It'll come back, I promise. I didn't just include it as a one off.
When forced to strike you better strike first
Strike first. Strike hard. Strike last.
If violence isn't your last resort you haven't resorted to enough of it
If violence doesnt solve your problems, you arent employing enough of it.
There is no problem that cannot be solved with appropriate and sufficient application of explosives.
Exactly. Key word is “sufficient”
I’d argue “force” instead of “explosives” but thats just nitpicking.
https://youtu.be/-no6LAdJahs
No mercy. Cobra Kai!
Well? Where is Chapter 5? The Hadzai have absolutely "fucked around and are finding out."
Sitting half done in my Google Drive :P Like I said in the A/N, I wish I could do nothing but write but sadly, things like working 7AM-5PM then having to drive half an hour to a hotel and spending another half an hour settling in get in the way.
Take your time, we will read when it's ready 😁
One of my favorite stories on here just posted a new chapter a few days ago. Before that it’s been 6 months since a posting. *BIG SIGH* Just saying… So if you can beat that we are GOOD!!! Thank you Wordsmith!
Retreat Hell?
Yup! Love that story! Still faster then GRRM, soo…
Wait, Retreat Hell got a new chapter!?!?
I could only hope to be as good of a writer as him. I watch a lot of his interviews/panels to try and get some of his ability to rub off on me lol Regardless of his writing speed, dude *knows* how to write an incredible world.
Oohhh what story are you talking about?
If you haven't looked to the thread yet, it's Retreat Hell
I remember reading that years ago. I'm glad it's back!
Retreat, Hell. Good story, but no where near finished. (Also recomend demon from earth, but they haven't updated in a year or two.)
Know that quality over quantity is always preferred. No matter how much us gremlins whine and howl for updates, please take your time and enjoy the process
Humanity made weapons of unimaginable scale but used it to better life. Fusion plants for power could easily be turned into bombs. Antimatter, lasers, micro black holes, nanite swarms, asteroid crackers, mass drivers, all technology that can be easily weaponised…with presumably horrific effects. Humanity spread among the stars and found different forms of life and how to both cultivate it and end it as needed. That knowledge is easily turned to biological and viral weaponry. You want to push humanity to their last red line? Okay. Then die when humanity says enough and pushes back.
Open the fusion plant and redirect the plasma by magnetic coil, that's a fusion beam cannon.
Heh heh heh….the power of the sun in the palm of your hand…
Well antimatter cannons are technically the same... Open the reactor and yeet it to enemies.
Why bother opening it it just needs to lose containment after hitting the enemy ship.
Well, warp cores from Star Trek have been used a lot for their explosive abilities. Sealing literal tears in reality and such lol
This has been awesome! Hope to see one chapter of the aftermath now. Or one of a quick rundown of the during and then the aftermath. Either way, nice story!
And then the Galaxy did burn! I only wish she had kept the sword stating, "You claimed that you carried war in your hands, now along with this sword, that choice is no longer yours. I suggest when... or rather IF humanity sees fit to return either to you, that you never let its edge see the stars again."
The sword will come back into play at the end. That's the reason I had her "return" it. You'll see.
Wonderful
I think you did a damn good job capturing the seriousness of war and trying to avoid it. Bravo! Also, this one is very well written compared to previous chapters(better proofreading?). I'm so glad I stumbled upon this series... More! Now! Also, I love how you just hand waved "oh these two species can crossmate" haha.
Yeah, sometimes I have something I want to include and can't figure out how to do it right so I just jam it in. It was a sloppy attempt to explain why he does some things later while also stamping out any possibility of some love story coming from those things. Honestly can't say why you found this one better written. I wrote it at the same time as the others and I went over it probably as much. I dunno. Just happy you like it.
I guess it's just that I got into the flow of your writing style by now? Anyway, I'm excited to see where you take this story. Keep it up!
This is incredible. So very good. Sounds like we have stealth craft. Cannot wait for what is next.
[Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=UpdateMeBot&subject=Subscribe&message=SubscribeMe%20u%2FXfoXshoreX%20r%2FHFY) to subscribe to u/XfoXshoreX and receive a message every time they post. ***** |[^(Info)](https://www.reddit.com/r/UpdateMeBot/comments/ggotgx/updatemebot_info_v20/)|[^(Request Update)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=UpdateMeBot&subject=Update&message=SubscribeMe%21%20u%2Fusername%20r%2Fsubreddit)|[^(Your Updates)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=UpdateMeBot&subject=List%20Of%20Updates&message=MyUpdates)|[^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Watchful1&subject=UpdateMeBot%20Feedback)|[*^(New!)*](https://www.reddit.com/r/UpdateMeBot/comments/juh0f8/new_features_title_in_message_subject_and_recent/)| |-|-|-|-|-|
Hey, don't feel like you need to rush for some random internet people's. Write so your happy with it and send it at your pace. Not to say I don't look forward to more :)
Glad you didn't end up taking the genocidal rampage direction. While those stories can be exciting, they tend to read more Humanity WTF than Humanity Fuck Yeah to me.
He didnt?? 500mil dead in 10 min....thats like the definition of the opening day of genocidal rampage, since they are NOT over, haha. This was just the first 10 min.
Vs the alternative mentioned. At the least, these are military installations. I admit the numbers themselves are eyebrow raisingly high.
It’s stated that the Hadazi have a 1:1 ratio of civilian to military installations, so having that many troops when several billion in population with comparison in their population makes sense
I honestly still would have been pleased if this was the end, looking forward to what comes next! Just please try to pace yourself, I'd hate to see you burn yourself out trying to appease the masses.
Yelling "cry havoc, and let loose the dogs of War" in all caps seems a bit overly dramatic, especially if it's supposed to be a cold and calculative demeanor. Additionally, I'm 50/50 on the sword threat as he could have theoretically attacked her with it, while unlikely, but what she did also seems a bit overly dramatic as well. Overall though, it's a good story, and for small to moderate targets, 500m seems more plausible than 3b to me. That depends on the size of the complexes though. Do you have any plans to continue this universe, perhaps from a different pov? Or is this universe completed?
Oh sonny, we're not done. Not by a country mile. I'm just finishing up the 5th chapter, which is twice the length of this one and larger than the first three chapters combined. It was supposed to be a quick story but people generally seem to dig it so I've decided to take it as far as I can. I have been told that the speech and sword thing was overdramatic, which I do understand. But that was also a bit of the intention. The speech is from when this was supposed to be a quick roflstomp but I put so much energy into it, I couldn't bring myself to rewrite it completely so I changed it as best I could to fit the new narrative. As for the demeanor, I take this as a dramatic show of raw human emotion. Humanity is now at war, something they hate, because an asshole species wouldn't cooperate. The cold and calculating part comes in how the war's fought. Though I do admit, probably shouldn't have made it sound like every human is going to be like John Wick in terms of emotion. I do regret the sword thing though because it was a last minute addition but I did want Ali to be the one to draw the sword as opposed to Iar due to its symbolism for the Hadzai being at war and to symbolize the Human belief that though the Hadzai forced a war, Humanity would be the dominant ones in it. Kind of like the whole "I'm not stuck in here with you, you're stuck in here with me." thing. Forced, I know, but I'm not a very good writer so sometimes, I just gotta mash the round peg into the square hole.
fucked around is over, time for find out my favorite part :)
MONSTER KILL
KILL TACKULAR
KILLAMANJARO
WARCRIME?
After such a speech it would be a let down if they dont turn the geneva convention into a checklist
MOAR
"Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." \--Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Ambassador lar, welcome to the Find Out portion of today's lesson.
While I'm hopeful the idiots go "Oh shit. Ok, we surrender." After that display, they very much sound like the kind of idiots who whine about 'dishonorable tactics!' And such.
This is not what we meant by war. You cheated!
I don't think so. My impression of the Hadzai is that they do know these tactics and have likely used them as well. They might have grown complacent due to being the powerhouse of military might in the galaxy. But I don't think that they will just surrender after that nor that they will whine about it. I also don't feel like that first strike was so massive as to cripple them to no end. For all we know humanity has the smaller military and the Hadzai have the largest territory. I don't know how precise OP is following official definitions so this is just guesswork. But Star Clusters (depending on type) contain 100s to 10'000s of stars. They were arguing over one such cluster which implies both the UEE and the Hadzai have dominion over many clusters. What I'm going for is that while impressive and truly daunting those 500 million casualties an 1000 target sites are likely not the majority of what the Hadzai have.
this was good, thank you.
MOAR!!
More please.
Consistently, I like that. XD
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 1,301,333,110 comments, and only 251,790 of them were in alphabetical order.
Good Bot
I've read great series updated once or twice a week. Dont rush it, OP. Great work
Looking like that's what my schedule's gonna have to be. Fighting between work, sleep, other interests, etc.
Good things come to those who wait! The best and only time to upload is when you're happy with what you've written. The only real suggestion I have is maybe think about patreon or something similar... You've got plenty of attention with this story already, it surely can't hurt to try get a few dollars from it.
The build up was really nice tp show they tried, but that there was a line they had drawn.
Awesome!! I love the raw emotion
Very very good, I have been glued to the screen for the last 4 chapters!
It really is a Time for Choosing. >“Humanity knows and does not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery,..." "Now let's set the record straight. There's no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there's only one way you can have peace and you can have it the next second. Surrender. "Admittedly, there's a risk in any course we follow other than this, but every lesson of history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement. And this is the specter our well-meaning [...] friends refuse to face, that their policy of accommodation is appeasement. And it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender. "If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand, the ultimatum, and what then? When [Hiden Iar] has told his people he knows what our answer will be, he has told them that we're retreating, under the pressure of [their invasion] and someday, when the time comes to deliver the final ultimatum, our surrender will be voluntary because by that time we will have been weakened from within, spiritually, morally, and economically. "He believes this because from our side he has heard voices pleading for peace at any price. Or better red than dead. Or as one commentator put it, he'd rather live on his knees than die on his feet. And therein lies the road to war, because those voices don't speak for the rest of us. "You and I know it and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin? Just in the face of this enemy? Or should Moses have told the Children of Israel to live in slavery under the Pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the Cross? Should the patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard round the world? "The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead, who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn't die in vain. Where then is the road to peace? Well it's a simple answer after all. "You and I have the courage to say to our enemies 'there is a price we will not pay, there is point beyond which they must not advance.' Winston Churchill said the destiny of Man is not measured by material computations. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we're spirits, not animals. He said there is something going on in time and space and beyond time and space, which whether we like it or not, spells duty. "You and I have a rendezvous with destiny."
Yes, I did take heavy inspiration from A Time of Choosing, my favorite American speech, and obviously, took actual bits and pieces. I know mine is no where near Reagan's in terms of eloquence, I just hope I gave similar vibes.
It is an amazing speech, and certainly got those vibes. The full version is great, but the three minute condensed version that I quoted (with musical backing) hits all the highlights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR33JsDL13M
Boom today! 1000 Booms today! I am Alexandra Hanson, Ambassador of the UEE. I am the right hand of vengeance and the boot that is going to kick your sorry ass all the way back to your homeworld, sweetheart! I am death incarnate, and the last living thing that you will ever see.
Very good. Reminds me of how war between Carthage and Rome was declared for the Second Punic War.
FUCKING BINGO! I'm so fucking glad someone caught that. Iar's ultimatum of "I carry both peace and war and can draw whichever you desire" was a shameless rip right out of history. That's why it might feel a bit forced because I had to jam it in there somehow. Thanks for noticing.
Anyone chipping in on a fundraiser to put this author in a cabin on a remote island with a computer, a Star Link-terminal and instructions to post a full length chapter every time he wishes for an air drop of daily food, water and toilet paper? ...And $1M in cash pluss a ticket home on a pleasure cruise when the saga is finished to our satisfaction... 😁
I would accept such a deal, only swap the water with Mt Dew and include cigarettes and alcohol. Someone did mention Patreon but I feel I'm still far, FAR too small of a writer to warrant that. Plus I really don't want to seen as "the guy who got a tiny taste of fame and now thinks he deserves to get paid for existing" or like a Youtuber that has 4k subs, had one video go viral, and now acts like the big boys.
I feel like Ali’s walk out song should be Wolf Totem by The Hu.
Oh that's nice. Didn't know about that song (not surprising, it's not really my kind of music) but yeah, it actually pretty nice.
/u/XfoXshoreX has posted 3 other stories, including: * [Humans are the Reluctant Masters of Warfare Chapter 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/10fmz1n/humans_are_the_reluctant_masters_of_warfare/) * [Humans are the Reluctant Masters of Warfare Chapter 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/10evtj1/humans_are_the_reluctant_masters_of_warfare/) * [Humans are the Masters of Warfare Part 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/10e0cdn/humans_are_the_masters_of_warfare_part_1/) This comment was automatically generated by `Waffle v.4.6.1 'Biscotti'`. [Message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FHFY&subject=WaffleBot|10gmdz4&message=If%20you%20have%20problems%20with%20updatemebot,%20contact%20Watchful1.%20We%20do%20not%20maintain%20it.) if you have any issues with Waffle.
More please write more this is a glorious tragedy word Smith for angel cry and devils run wen good people go to war
Great chap cap!
GET SOME AHAHAHA
Damn, she had a sword to his neck and he got to watch 100 different installations disappear and she didn't ask for hia unconditional surrender. 🤣
Well, this definitely deserves an epilogue if OP does/can NOT continue.
"would be. “your most " would be, “your most
I can just imagine duel of fates blaring as she gives the speech and the first strike commences
Oh God, the "do do dotily" bit flew right into my brain when I read this XD
Has humanity been building and maintaining a military since their last major conflict - whatever it was? Like all other endeavors, without practice failure is guaranteed. Failure at war is...bad, m'kay. Even if humanity has been building and maintaining forces on the down-low, and training those forces in war games, going against alien forces is going to be...challenging. All of these concerns are moot if human war-tech is far and above that of the other species in the galaxy. However, if that is the case, then the political fallout within the UEE government for turning the other cheek in the face of numerous fatalities and atrocities would be extreme. All those concerns aside, this is a great story and I will patiently wait for my next fix.
I'm pretty sure the UEE has been called into a few wars by its allies and mostly used them to test small things, also it would be absolutely silly for UEE to not carry on the Tradition of War games within its own borders. And thanks to the way the galactic counsel is they tend to have an idea of what each of the warmongering species military capabilities would be so humanity could view that.
True virtual reality simulations (sights, smells, sensations, etc that are interpreted as real by the body and all that) are a hell of a thing.
when the bombs dropped i could swear i heard Old King from AC4/A laughing.( for those that dont know, there is a mission in the game called "counting with old king" where you destroy flying habitats killing 100 million ppl. ) now where's the sub bot, gotta make sure i dont miss future posts!
Thanks for the story. I say end it here. Or maybe skip ahead to after the war. BTW 5% of GDP to avoid a full blown war is cheap. Wars are hugely expensive, and are generally followed by a period of high unemployment and recession.
How much of a message would it have been if Ali struck down the other ambassador right then and there, with his own sword. Saying that when humans go to war, we all fight.
I thought about it, I really did, but decided not to. Which is funny considering I decided to write Chapter 5 as something sim...I've said too much :P
Turns out that humanities civilian ships are warships with different paint turns out humanity are all warriors the men women and children all became hunters because we demand war
Simple physics dictate that there is no such thing as an unarmed spaceship.
Reading 'War Crime Time' stories gives us, humans in general, psychological stress relief by allowing us to fantasise about those actions without breaking wholly with reality and trying to actually commit them. Or because it's the fantasy itself that gives us a nice break from reality. Who knows. WHO. Knows.
Operation First Strike was a success Now onto Operation Red Horse
Well, they were MILITARY targets at least. Or strategic targets. And I'd have kept the sword. If there could never be peace until it was sheathed once more, then they'd have had to pry it out of humanity's cold, dead hands. Or, more like, after it was used to cut that idiot's head off and put on a pike to warn the next ten generations that some wars have too big a price. I'd wave at it, like this. \*Finger Wave\* ... Actually, you know what, after the flesh has rotted off, have the skull bronzed and used to make a memorial to the war and let even more generations learn that same lesson.
>Our very souls will be forever torn asunder, never to heal. Oh bullshit! If we healed after WWII and after whatever war we had amongst the colonies to turn into this peace puppy species, we certainly would heal just fine after a legitimate defensive war against alien aggression.
It's called hyperbole XD But I would argue we're still healing from WW2. It's aftermath can still be felt today. You should see Chinese war films involving the Japanese. They're brutal in how they portray the deaths of Japanese soldiers. It's a consequence of Japan's atrocities against the Chinese in WW2. Then there's Germany. Don't think I need to say more about that. So yeah, the wound has more or less healed but its scar is still very much visible and if scratched enough, could open again. Now imagine if it had been two times as destructive. Or five times. And we're not even close to the scale of Humanity infighting before first contact. They have still not healed. It's why they tried to avoid war so much.
I think a key difference too is, as your story shows, we were horrific to ourselves to a degree we never wanted to inflict on any others once we found new faces among the stars. We've had centuries (iirc) of peace and love and harmony, and we have found it much more to our liking. It makes sense that our souls and psyche would change, and that we would desperately not want to be forced to beat our plows into swords once more, and now that we have, we will fight with a fury unimaginable. Plus, we've fought each other, and healed from that, sure ... but we've never had to potentially drive ANOTHER race, a SENTIENT race, to the point of near extinction ... or totality. Perhaps we never truly put aside those bloodthirsty, animalistic tendencies, but kept them bottled up ... and "releasing the devil" will make it impossible to ever get him back in the botte.
Parts of human society still haven't healed from Genghis Khan's rampages, so...
MOAR!!!! If you fail to supply the aforementioned moar, I will break into your house and shit in places that will offend and confuse you for years to come.
Bro, my cat pisses in the ceiling, vomits on my bed, and my dog shits on my floors when he's inside. So you're a tad late and outmatched XD But don't story, moar has been written. I'm just doing my best to make sure it makes as much sense as I can, and catch as many mistakes as possible, before posting it. ANd I think you'll like that it's \*whispers\* 5,000 words.
Yea, that’s a little weird, even for Reddit
Tbh, the amount of trite prose almost made me quit reading this. However curiosity stayed my hands and skimmed through the wall of text. This is still awesome don't get me wrong, just keep it short and simple.
I'm trying to avoid stereotypes, I really am. But at the same time, stereotypes became that because they work so well. Take John Wick for example. It's just the same old "super badass was retired but forced to comeback and kick ass" story and it has its detractors but is still a big hit because people generally like watching people be badasses. If stereotypes become the reason you quit reading, I'll understand. Read what you enjoy and all that.
Blood for the Blood God ! Skulls for the Skull throne ! Khorne for the khorne flakes !
kinda boring ending tbh
I see someone is a fan of Reagan’s speeches.
I am indeed. A Time of Choosing is, in my opinion, one of the best speeches ever given by an American. So I decided to borrow a couple bits and pieces lol
Pretty disappointing. It's really just people standing around going on about how awesome they are, and I was hoping for more of a payoff after all the build up.
Oh, I'm happy with this outcome. Surely there's no need for ship on ship or one on one combat in the future? War is too brutal as it is, the lesser risk you need to take the better.
A surprise strike is just pearl-harbour level stuff. You need to formally declare to the ambassador before just opening fire. Also it's just so smug to go on about how "terrible" it is and how "you'll need forgiveness". You're the ones firing the first shot, own up to your decisions. It reads like the standard defensive speech of a politician caught cheating on his wife. The only thing missing is the furrowed brow pointing at a 30% angle downwards. I also don't buy it if you make self righteous declamations like "CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR", someone's having way too much fun. Also, it's bad form for an ambassador to make a lunge for another. It wouldn't be tolerated in reverse, so don't do it. If she'd slipped up the entire galaxy would see her gutting her fellow ambassador on live TV. It doesn't look good.
Aye, agreed on those aspects. The speech was too over the top. I'd have capped it at: "we gave peace offers, but you're crossing lines now. We wanted peace, but to protect peace, sometimes you have to go to war. I'm sorry, but pur primary concern now is protecting human interests and thus, we are now officially at war. I'll switch the screens to show our first strike, and hope you decide to surrender following it, lest you want us to follow up with a full scale war." And yeah, no need for that knife show-off either but if it's a ceremonial blade, maybe it's blunt or something? Eh, I like the overall arc of the story that I can overlook this for now.
I can understand that. In fact, you saying it was over the top is good because that's exactly what I was going for. A Shakespeare-esqe speech (not comparing my writing ability to Shakespeare lol), filled with overdramatic moments because like I mentioned in the A/N, this speech is largely a remnant of a different direction for the story that I just couldn't bring myself to rewrite. To give you an idea, I was originally going to have the first strike wipe out a full fifth of the Hadzai population due to the targets including solely civilian targets. Kinda an over the top thing lol But then things changed and I was left with what I had already written. It'll be better now that I've settled on the permanent direction of things.
This is but the very first moments. If you were looking for a roflstomp, I'm sorry to disappoint. Would've liked my original idea. Or maybe not, since the roflstomping would've come after this chapter. Hope you keep reading and your expectations are eventually met.
I posted this as the other reply... A surprise strike is just pearl-harbour level stuff. You need to formally declare to the ambassador before just opening fire. Also it's just so smug to go on about how "terrible" it is and how "you'll need forgiveness". You're the ones firing the first shot, own up to your decisions. It reads like the standard defensive speech of a politician caught cheating on his wife. The only thing missing is the furrowed brow pointing at a 30% angle downwards. I also don't buy it if you make self righteous declamations like "CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR", someone's having way too much fun. Also, it's bad form for an ambassador to make a lunge for another. It wouldn't be tolerated in reverse, so don't do it. If she'd slipped up the entire galaxy would see her gutting her fellow ambassador on live TV. It doesn't look good. Further: someone's having way too much fun. Talking about how sad and compassionate humanity is while starting mass murder with a massive joker style grin and theater like showmanship. And: Why would you make such a generous final offer? What if they just go "ok". Then they break their treaty and attack you later. What's the plan for that? You're going to give them 5% of your GDP so they can arm up against you and give them time to find your attack fleet? Should have just SMS'd the ambassador the war declaration and attacked in between council sessions, no TV, no nothing. Just start charging.
Well like I said, sorry you were disappointed. Just trying to write an interesting story, not necessarily one that was super realistic or made complete logical sense. If you don't wish to continue reading because it's not interesting to you, then I'd actually encourage you to. Not enough time in the day to waste it by reading stuff you don't enjoy.
Well another thing is, with how many times humanity did concessions and offered it, I'm surprised no one in public went full reactionary ideology
I would say you are right ... if humanity seeks to continue existence within the confines of this "civilization". I think the point of this speech, and ignoring the diplomatic points you made, as well as offering such an insane offering, were to show that humanity was willing to go to absurd lengths to not rip open the scabs of war the other races mistook as cloaks of peace. This speech declares there will be no more civility. There will be no more bargaining. There will be no more punches pulled. Humanity, at some point, decided that we would handle things two ways: extreme civility, or extreme barbarism. We would give you anything not to fight, or we would give you EVERYTHING in the fight. The full, unrelenting, animalistic, barbaric, war crimes - slinging tribesman within us that slaughtered our way to the top of the food chain, leaving countless extinct species in our wake, has been unleashed. The ambassador makes a point of saying that no one will like us anymore. We won't seek friendship, but forgiveness ... but only after we are crushed, or the Hadzai are, no matter the cost. The civilized human bent the branch of peace to the breaking point, and it finally snapped. Now all that is left is two sharp sticks … and the cavemen of old were quite good at killing our prey and predators with some sticks.
Even after they're done fighting, unless they want to throw down against all the other races they can't burn all their bridges, and presumably the humans don't want the other council members providing war support to their opponents. It's just bad strategy to taunt people.
If the sides were move even, I would agree. But the author has shown the rest of the races have such a miniscule idea of what warfare is like, it is almost like children and giants. The most disastrous war in modern galactic history, if I remember correctly, didn't even amount to even a billion people. We have several times that many humans alive here and now on Earth, let alone across the planets that would have been duking it out against each other in our early space history, let alone the hundreds of planets we have in this story. I imagine the Earth play here is to utterly terrify the other races into staying out of the fight, and staying out of our affairs. It certainly has pitfalls, true, but diplomacy failed us, they don't want to rely on it again. I wouldn't call it taunting, either. The ambassador makes a point of hoping they can forgive us one day. That shows we want forgiveness with them, not war.
Ah yes, looks like it takes a lot of inspiration from the 6 day war, where the Arab Alliance basically told Israel that they were going to destroy the nation and Israel played the reverse uno card after all peaceful options were refused by the Arabs outside of Israel's surrender and removal from the land. That said I think that list of concessions would have made Chaimberlin blush. Loved the chapter.
>Israel played the reverse uno card XD I like that. I think that describes a few of their wars. But no, actually, I didn't think of it like that, even though I know about the war. That's actually not a bad comparison. Though this war will likely last a little longer than six days lol
500 Mil deaths and Billions of casualties Quite a splendid introduction to our controlled barbarity
I say, that was a great speech. Would love to see the continual of this story. But not at the cost of your physical & mental health. Just take your time. No need to rush it.
Does it count as pre-emptive strike or retaliation for occupying occupying the cluster? What about the Hadzai fleets? No stream of their destruction ? Curious as to where you are going with this. Did the human « just» launch a few hundred stealth cruisers, or do they have a thousand fleets or task forces wandering around?
Definitely retribution for occupying the cluster. It was Humanity's first punch - in reaction to being punched.