The Martial Unity

The Divine Mothers quickly convened a high-level meeting with each other the moment they had received -o-’s report. Naturally, the reactions to the information that they had gathered were not trivial. Each of them had reviewed the footage gathered by the superluminal light harvester, realizing just how incriminating the information was.

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”The. Aquadites. Have. Chosen. To. Antagonize. Us. Even. Though. We. Deigned. To. Let. The. Water-borne. Creatures. Do. As. They. Please. In. Their. Corner. Of. The. Orion. Star. Strand!” One Divine Mother roared with anger. ”We. Must. Retaliate. And. Put. Them. In. Their. Place! The. Imperialist. Faction. Supports. An. Immediate. Invasion!”

That proposal was not booed the way it would have been at any other moment. While many Divine Mothers weren’t warmongers, they couldn’t ignore a direct provocation and an attack on their sister. The fact was that a Divine Mother was missing and was almost certainly dead based on the revelations that this investigation had dug up.

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”This. Must. Be. Some. Kind. Of. Mistake,” one Divine Mother warned wth a wary expression. ”The. Aquadites. Are. Known. For. Their. Propensity. To. Avoid. Conflict. They. Do not. Wage. War. Because. They. Stand. Very. Little. To. Gain. From. It. Unlike. Most. Other. Advanced. Civilizations. Conquering. Land. Means. Nothing. To. Them. Unless. It. Is. Compatible. With. Their. Aquafying. Technology.”

”Not. Just. That,” another Divine Mother added. ”They. Are. Not. In. The. Habit. Of. Creating. Massive. Tides. Of. Water. The. Way. The. Footage. Collected. By. The. Light. Harvester. They. Use. Very. Limited. Amounts. Of. Water. In. Battle. Because. Carrying. Massive. Amounts. Of. Water. Is. Extremely. Cumbersome. And. Impractical.”

—oo-oo— hadn’t been the only homoarachnoid to have noticed anomalies with the conclusion that the Aquadites were responsible for this attack. Many other non-war crazed Divine Mothers had also realized that there were dubious elements to the conclusion, if nothing else.

Yet, the severity of a dead Divine Mother and a destroyed outpost world was much greater than anything else could have led them to believe.

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”The. War. Faction. Is. Unified. In. Its. Decision. To. Wage. War. Against. The. Aquadites!” An older female voice roared across the network. ”Everyday. We. Allow. To. Unfold. Without. Consequences. For. Aquadites. For. Their. Actions. And. Their. Offenses. Is. An. Insult. To. Our. Fallen. Sister!”

”I. Agree. We. Will. Be. Sending. The. World. A. Message. That. They. Can. Attack. Us. Without. Consequences! That. Simply. Cannot. Be. Permitted.”

”As. Much. As. I would. Like. To. Avoid. Another. War. The. Reality. Is. That. We. Were. Attacked… That. Means. That. We. Must. Retaliate.”

This was standard interstellar political doctrine. When attacked, one needed to act, and one needed to act strongly. The stronger the message one sent about the consequences of attacking them, the greater the deterrence it would provide.

That was the rationale that fueled those who supported the attack, even if they weren’t necessarily fond of another war that was bound to ensue from their decision. It was the lesser of two evils, as far as many Divine Mothers were concerned. They couldn’t allow the death of their sister to simply go by.

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”You. Are. Not. Thinking. Rationally,” a Divine Mother of the Peace Faction spoke with severity. ”You. Are. Going. To. Drive. Our. Civilization. Into. Fighting. Two. Wars. That. We. Cannot. Win. It. Will. Destroy. Our. Nation!”

That was another concern that animated many Divine Mothers. They were already at war with the Dessandrite Civilization, and it was not easy. Their opponents were powerful and could handle protracted war without losing stamina.

The homoarachnoids were thought to have a slight edge, but that was only true if they had one opponent. If they picked a fight with another opponent, then some Divine Mothers feared that they would get wiped out in two wars across two war fronts.

However, at the same time, if the Aquadites were responsible for this incident, then they would have no choice but to retaliate. One could not allow a nation to attack, kill important figures, and then simply get away with it scot-free.

Balancing that line, however, was not easy, especially when the evidence was suggestive of the Aquadites being the culprit.

The Divine Mothers argued on and on about whether it really was the Aquadites, about whether they should attack their territories. About whether they should try another approach and seek dialogue first.

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”Enough.”

An elderly female voice boomed across the network sternly. A single word from her was enough to quell the chatter that went in the web of communication that the Divine Mothers were in.

She was First Webber oo-o—o—o, the first Divine Mother of the homoarachnoids, regarded as one of the most powerful and the most authoritative among all the Divine Mothers.

She was also regarded as a neutral arbiter since she rarely took sides and didn’t affiliate with any faction.

”This. Bickering. Will. Not. Get. Us. Anywhere,” she spoke with a definitive tone. ”Everybody. Has. Seen. The. Evidence. Everybody. Is. Aware. Of. All. The. Considerations.”

Her voice was one of finality.

”It. Is. Time. To. Arrive. At. A. Decision.”

She spoke knowingly.

”It. Is. Time. To. Vote. On. A. Path. Forward.”

The Divine Mothers quickly began voicing their decisions, casting a vote for one of several options, including something as lukewarm as simply continuing the investigation.

Some were against the war.

Yet, some wasn’t enough.

Out of a hundred and twelve Divine Mothers, more than half voted for an attack against the Aquadites. They didn’t explicitly vote for a war, although most of them knew that such an attack would likely vote for one.

The reality was that the death of a Divine Mother was simply too much to ignore.

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”Then. We. Have. Decided,” the First Webber spoke with a conclusive tone. ”We. Shall. Attack. The. Aquadites. Now. We. Must. Set. The. Process. Into. Motion.”

The Homoarachnoid Civilization began preparing for an attack and an ensuing conflict with the Aquadites. It was not going to be easy, given that their target was not a weak civilization that could be bullied very easily.

But once the decision had been made, the conflict was inevitable.