2175 C.E.

XXV: The Debrief of Yong An-Hong

Archive Recording: 08/07/2175

[Begin Playback]

TROY: Start recording. This is Alexandra Troy, date August 7, 2175. I will be conducting the debrief of source code-named GIDEON. We will be using the English language because I wanted to. Do you have any objections to that, Mr. Gideon?

YONG: My English may not always be the best, but I can make my way in it.

TROY: Fabulous. We will be conducting the complete debrief of GIDEON, who has graciously offered full disclosure on all matters pertinent to the so-called Zaha-Katchem Empire. First thing's first, thank you Mr. Gideon, for your timely warning about the invasion; thanks to your intelligence, the Novan Stellar Navy remains intact, making it the only fleet in the galaxy at full combat strength.

YONG: Never did I expect to rescue the Novan Navy by action or inaction.

TROY: Nevertheless, you did do it. If all goes well, I suspect a lot of people will thank you for doing so.

YONG: And if all does not go well?

TROY: Well, then, at least you tried. Let's start with something pretty simple. How much does the Terran Hegemony know about the black ship?

YONG: You don't want to ask why I defected?

TROY: Oh, we'll get to that. First, though, I have a lot of other folks breathing down my back, and they really want to know about the black ship. Tell me absolutely everything you know, and don't leave anything out, even stuff we probably both know, just in case you know more than we do about it. And I will interrupt to ask questions.

YONG: The black ship comes from the third planet orbiting the RN-06 star in neutral space. The world itself is habitable, though not hospitable, to humans and Grushan. The planet was under a Grushan Federation quarantine on the advisory of an ancient warning satellite left by an extinct race called the Sheradzon. According to Grushan databases, the planet was a fortification left by the Sheradzons' deceased enemies. Grushan never investigated further, but according to their surveyors, records of advanced technology existed on the surface. The Terran Exoplanetary Research Administration requested permits to investigate, the President and myself agreed that the potential for a technological edge over the Grushan was too great to pass up. A science vessel was commissioned to investigate and arrived in the RN-06 system on June 4 of this year.

TROY: So, you violated a Grushan quarantine for...technology?

YONG: The Federation is the only viable economic and military threat to the Hegemony in existence. Does it not seem logical for the Hegemony to look for any possible edge?

TROY: When has the Federation threatened the Hegemony?

YONG: The threat of the Federation is existential. What would you call a force so powerful as to wipe out everything that you care about in less than a lifetime?

TROY: A lot of things can do that. Force isn't always the best way to overcome them. Also, I really feel I should point out that you started the war, not the Federation.

YONG: I had no part in this war.

TROY: I don't know. I've been working on Earth my whole life, and it seems like there was a lot of kindling even before the coup you told me about or the arrival of the black ship. Some of that was your fault, Mr. Gideon.

YONG: I fail to see how.

TROY: If we had the time, I would take it to give you a quick recap of "the Grushan hate Earth" propaganda that's been coming out of Hegemony media offices since the Novan Revolution. But we don't, so let's talk instead about how the Hegemony got a slow, cumbersome science vessel through the Grushan security net. That thing should have been caught the minute it showed up in that star system, but you're telling me that it eluded detection for nearly a whole month? How does that work?