By /u/SpacePaladin15 on /r/HFY

Humans were supposed to be cowards.

The Galactic Federation’s species registry had them listed as a 2 of 16 on the aggression index. Our interactions with the Terran Union up until this point supported those conclusions. They had not fought any wars among themselves in centuries, and had formed a unified world government prior to achieving FTL travel. They had responded with eagerness rather than hostility to first contact, unlike many species.

Earth had resolved every dispute through diplomacy and compromise since it became an official member of the Federation. For example, a few years ago, the expansionist Xanik claimed a Terran mining colony as their territory. The Federation braced itself for a minor conflict, as they expected the humans to defend their outpost. But the humans simply shrugged and agreed to hand off the planet, for a small yearly fee. Rather than going to war, the Terrans somehow ended up as prominent trading partners for the Xanik.

There was also an incident where the paranoid Hoda’al arrested Terran ambassadors on charges of being spies. Imprisoning diplomats with zero evidence was a clear provocation to war, but the humans did nothing. They didn’t even raid the facility where their representatives were being held! They simply opened backchannel negotiations with the Hoda’al and arranged a prisoner exchange, swapping a few smugglers for their people.

Thoughts on the humans varied depending on who you asked. Some in the Federation found their pacifism commendable, and appreciated their even-tempered statesmanship. Others thought that it was weakness that led them to avoid war. I was in the latter camp; the only reason not to respond to blatant insults with aggression was that they didn’t have the wits or the strength for it.

When the Devourers came, the three most militaristic species in the galaxy (as per the aggression index) banded together to stand against their approach. We didn’t know much about them, but we called them the Devourers since their sole mission was to drain stars of their energy. I can’t tell you why they would do such a thing. Whatever their reasons, they would take one system by force, suck it dry, and move on to the next.

Our fleet, the finest the Federation had to offer, suffered heavy losses when we clashed with enemy destroyers. We fought as hard as we could, and it didn’t matter. Our weapons hardly seemed to scratch their ships. It was a tough decision, but I ordered what was left of the fleet to retreat. As much as we needed to stop them, we would lose the entire armada if we stuck around any longer.

I sent out a distress signal, relaying our grim situation and pleading for reinforcements. There were other species with lesser, but still potent, militaries within the Federation. But my request was returned with silence. Not a single one of those cowards volunteered to help. Hearing of our defeat, I suppose they decided to flee and fend for themselves.

I thought we were on our own, until we detected human ships jumping to our position. How ironic, the only ones who came to our aid were the galactic pushovers. There were only five of them according to our sensors, which was not nearly enough to mount a fight. A pathetic showing, but it was more than the zero ships that had been sent by the other Federation powers.

“Sir, the Terrans are hailing us. What do they think they’re gonna do, talk the enemy to death?” First Officer Blez quipped.

I heard a few snickers from my crew, but quickly shushed them. “We need all the help we can get. On screen.”

A dark-haired human blinked onto the view screen. “Federation vessel, this is Commander Mikhail Rykov of the Terran Union. We are here to assist in any way possible.”

I bowed my head graciously. “Thank you for coming, Commander Rykov. I am General Kilon. Please join our formation and help cover our retreat.”

“Retreat?” The human commander blinked a few times, looking confused. “Our intentions are to engage and terminate the enemy.”

“With five ships? All due respect, the Devourers number in the thousands, and they crushed our fleet of equal magnitude. I wouldn’t expect a peaceful species like yours to understand warfare, but it’s in your interest to follow our lead,” I said.

Commander Rykov seemed even more confused. “You think humans are a peaceful species? What the hell? Why would you think that?”

“Well…you never fight with anyone. You resolve everything with talk. Humans are the lowest rated species on the aggression index,” I replied.

“I see. The Federation has misjudged us there. Do you know why we avoid war, General?”

“Because you don’t think you can win? Fear?”

The human laughed heartily. “No, it’s because we know what we are. What we’re capable of. And nobody’s deserved that quite yet.”

The idea of Terrans making ominous threats would have been a joke to me before now, but something in Rykov’s tone told me he believed what he was saying with conviction. This was a clear case of delusion stemming from a lack of experience with interstellar warfare. The Devourers would make fools of the Earthlings, and punish them for their overconfidence. However, if the Commander really wanted to send his men to a slaughter, I would not stop him.

“If you insist on fighting, I certainly won’t stand in your way. But know that you’re on your own, we’re getting out of here. What is your plan?” I asked.

“We brought a nanite bomb we developed. We’ve never actually used one before, since in about five percent of simulations, they don’t stop with localized entities and consume all matter in the universe.” Commander Rykov said this way too casually for my liking. “But, we programmed them to self-destruct after a few seconds, which will probably work. Ensign Carter, fire at the enemy in five seconds.”

My eyes widened in alarm. “Wait, hold up, you just said it could destroy everything…”

The Terran flagship fired a missile before I could get in another word to stop them. At first, I thought that they had missed their mark. The projectile sailed through the Devourer fleet, not connecting with a single ship. Then, it detonated at the rear of the formation, and all hell broke loose.

Space itself seemed to shudder as an explosion tore through anything in its vicinity. The force was so powerful that our sensors could only provide an error message as measurement. At least a third of the Devourer fleet was instantly vaporized, as an improbable amount of energy and heat turned them to metal soup. There was no way any occupants of those ships lived through that.

The enemy vessels further out from ground zero survived the initial blast, though many of them sustained heavy damage. But an invisible force seemed to be slowly dissecting each of them; I could only watch in disbelief as the mighty cruisers disintegrated bit by bit. I suppose the bomb had thrown out a swarm of nanobots, which had attacked the ships’ structure on a molecular level.

The Devourers hardly knew what hit them. By the time they thought to return fire, there was nothing left to return fire with. Their arsenal evaporated in a matter of seconds, and undoubtedly, their personnel suffered the same fate. Where there had once been an unstoppable army, now only stood empty space.

The humans had unleashed a wave of destruction that was unrivaled by anything I had ever seen in my military career, with just a single missile. Horror shot through my veins at the thought that they might one day turn their monstrous weapons on the Federation. There was no way to defend oneself against such diabolical creations.

The aggression index needed an update. The kind of species that would invent weapons like that was no 2. Glancing around at my crew, I saw stunned and aghast reactions that mirrored my own. If they ever became hostile, the humans represented a threat of the highest level. They could more than likely wipe out the entire galaxy without breaking a sweat.

“Now that’s taken care of. You should have just invited us to the party to start with!” Commander Rykov grinned. “Tell you what, General, next time we meet, you owe us a beer.”

I frowned. The humans could ask for much more than a drink if they wanted to. “Yeah, I think we can do that.”

Commander Rykov terminated the call, and I watched as the Terran ships warped back into hyperspace. I was still trying to wrap my mind around the whole thing, and I wondered how I was going to put this into words for the combat report. The Federation had no idea who the Terrans truly were, but I was going to make sure they did.

And as I played the events of the day over in my mind, it clicked. I finally understood why such a powerful species would not show its hand.

The humans avoid war because it would be too easy for them to win.