Martian Orbit, Sazkarjhit Contact
The debris field of Earth could be seen even from the orbit of the red planet, the chunks of dirt and rock stretching out to form a chaotic could that would one day become another world. Perhaps that new world might evolve intelligent life over billions of years, to one day be contacted by humanity if it survives. Maybe it will be peaceful, or maybe they will be wiped out by war parties seeking to reclaim their world. Whatever the case, that has not happened yet, and an entirely different uncertainty is currently at hand. Namely, how will Fergus speak to a species he knows only by reports of atrocities from troops under his command?
He was desperately trying to suppress his emotions for the greater good, but he had always had trouble with that. He knew it was required, but it has an extremely hard thing to do. He tried everything he knew of, Buddhist meditation, yoga, Hachist methods, he even reached out to a Goddess without a people and another worshiped by a close ally of the Alliance. Only the first and last did he actually expect to possibly work, mainly due to Buddhist meditation having multiple accounts of relieving stress and him actually having contact with the final deity. Of course, the second to last he had also contacted, but she was also the Goddess of war in Draconian beliefs. So that's a problem.
After many hours of these activities, Fergus decided to try an Abh meditation method. While common among Abh, it is almost never used by neither humans nor dolphins. instead of having you focusing on one thing or clearing the mind, it consists of an intense study of what is bothering you. The study is supposed to reveal why it is bothering you, and thus how you can make it not bother you. While that is the general idea, some say that the understanding is all you need, in the same way that a psychological study of your nightmare makes it seem less frightful, or maybe even humorous in hindsight. This method worked incredibly well with Fergus, while he was never good with making himself do something, he always was good at thinking of why someone else would make themselves do something. You'd never catch him admitting that, though.
Once the thirty-minute meditation session was over, he suddenly felt perfectly fine with the past mistakes of the Sazkarjhit. He had come to the conclusion that they were done not because the Grand Vessel at the time was evil, but because he truly thought he was doing the right thing. In fact, he probably believed he was helping the "heathens", in the same way that the ridiculously conservative "Traditional Christian Hierarchy" during the Common Sense War thought it was saving souls by forcibly altering the memories of conquered populations so they would believe the exact same thing they did. While the possible outcome of the crusade against the Hach would have been terrible, everyone involved thought they were actually helping, and Fergus simply cannot dislike someone who think's they're helping.
Fully prepared for the meeting, Fergus walks to the command center of the orbital station where the EAS McClain is being refitted, and orders a channel to be opened to the Sazkarjhit ships that have just arrived.
"This is Admiral Fergus McClain of the Earth Alliance, it is an honor to once again meet with your people. It is my hope that we can begin to understand each other's cultures better and avoid any future conflicts. If you dock with this station, we can meet face to face in a diplomatic conference room adapted for your species."
