Chapter 115. The family star is destroyed and the bird Cindy becomes extinct
Otis woke up from his sleep when he heard a sharp sound. News came over the ship's loudspeakers that they were about to reach their journey's destination. He needed some time to understand the implications of the notice. When he first woke up from his sleep, his mind did not work immediately. And, as he gets older, the time it takes for him to wake up seems to get longer and longer. At least that's how he felt. This was a fact that he was not happy about. This was not the case before. Previously, he could immediately lecture on Cindy's political situation after awakening from deep sleep. But those days are long gone. It has been a long time.
Today, too, he felt like an idiot for several minutes. His brain couldn't seem to turn on. Like an old computer software, it takes some time to get ready. Fortunately, he has his own place where no one can see him.
He was heading to the site of negotiations between Cindy and the Federation. Initially, he had no intention of participating in these negotiations. After all, he was a member of Cindy's council and therefore had other tasks to fulfill. He felt very sorry for this. How he wished he could conduct these negotiations himself. It just wasn't his style to leave Cindy's future in someone else's hands. It's not that he doesn't trust the negotiators. Of course, he believed it. But being personally involved and having an impact is a completely different thing.
Now, he might have a chance to do that. Although this was due to very negative and sad events. He was shocked to learn about the bombing in his office. It's horrifying that these promising negotiations should end this way. This is not just true for Cindy, but for humans as well. This was the beginning of a better future. He could only hope that this was still possible. Because the cause of the explosion is still unclear. Was it an accident? It is inevitable, then, to grieve for those who lost their lives. But the problem can be solved without affecting the relationship between Cindy and the Federation. If this is an attack, then one party is being dishonest and intending to undermine the negotiation. Then subsequent negotiations may be temporarily suspended.
For Otis, it was almost unimaginable that this could be an attack. Who would do such a thing? For what purpose? In the explosion, both Cindy and the human were killed. Will anyone sabotage negotiations at the expense of their own countrymen? This was ridiculous to him. If the Federation does not want to negotiate, they can refuse the invitation and there is no need to kill their own people. And, for Cindy to launch an attack, that wasn't an option he needed to consider at all. He was sure Cindy would never do such a thing.
But ultimately, all musings on the matter are pure speculation. There are currently no facts surrounding the incident. Only one explosion is known to have destroyed both delegations. The rest requires on-site investigation to figure out.
All members of the Council set off to participate in the investigation. Although they couldn't offer any help. They knew nothing about forensic investigations or physical evidence analysis. But they wanted to know the findings directly. If a decision needs to be made, they can make it faster on the spot. Furthermore, this is an important signal for the Federation. They wanted to show that they were taking the investigation of the incident seriously.
Of course, they traveled independently. Everyone is on their own race's ship. They would never travel long distances on other races' ships. The mutual favorability is not high enough. Not that they had anything to worry about on other races' ships. That's not the reason. But each race has its own preferences. From room temperature to taste, there are differences. Additionally, different races have different tolerances to light intensity and different foods. Moreover, there are also differences in living environment. At least at this point, the water tribe is separated from other races. Because their boat must be completely filled with water, otherwise they cannot survive outside.
For Otis, that was just fine. He was happy to have some time away from other council members. Although he longs for closer ties between the various Sindy races, he also finds the other races a bit annoying. Especially the crawling Cindy and the insect Cindy, which are particularly aggressive, but also the slow-moving plant Cindy and the aquatic Cindy, which constantly assert their special status, and can become a real annoyance over time. Therefore, he likes quiet time with only his own people around him.
After Otis had straightened himself out and put on his clothes, he made his way to the door. Then he paused for a while to collect his thoughts. No matter what happened in the next few hours, he was sure, it was going to be a rough time. He had never been to a place so brutal, with so many lives lost. He wondered if there was anything else that might trigger him. Or maybe the explosion wiped out all traces so that almost nothing could be seen.
However, all speculation was in vain. He will see everything there. It won't take too long. Therefore, he decided not to waste time and headed directly to the bridge. He never wanted to miss their moment in orbit. He left his residence and walked towards the bridge. It wasn't a long trip, as the ship wasn't big, like all of Cindy's ships. It is primarily a research vessel and is virtually unarmed. Humanoid Cindy's ship is unable to engage in large-scale warfare. They are mainly used for defense and research. This fact stems from the past. Because when all races still lived on the planet Xin, their common home, there was a clear division of racial roles. This is a division of labor that has developed over centuries. Creeping Cindy is a warrior. Their aggression is almost exclusively reserved for the use of violence. They have few researchers or scholars, and are not held in particularly high esteem. In this race, only the success of the warrior is meaningful. Insect Cindy supports them. Because these two races defended Sindy, the plant Sindy and the humanoid Sindy could focus on research and the development of technology. They are what keeps Sindy's economy alive. The remaining two races did not play an important role in it. Aquatics live in their own element, coming into contact with land dwellers only when unavoidable or when it is advantageous for them. Bird Cindy, on the other hand, prefers to fly freely in the air. They don't pay much attention to technology and don't understand other races' pursuit of continuous development. They are satisfied with the status quo. Maybe it's because they can fly and therefore have no boundaries. Still, according to legend, the birds not only literally fly over all other races, but also consider themselves superior in attitude.
For plant and humanoid Cindy, there was never any motivation to strengthen their fleets. All accepted a division of tasks, which seemed reasonable, to concentrate on their respective abilities. Until the war broke out. There are different theories about the causes and triggers of the outbreak, and the number of them seems to increase as the years go by. As the events get further and further away, explanations for the period become increasingly absurd. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what exactly happened. Eventually, it all took its toll. The war between the races lasted for more than a hundred years. There have been different alliances, but they have all formed and disbanded. For plant Cindy and humanoid Cindy, the first few years were a disaster that almost made it impossible for them to survive. This also proved to be a huge weakness, as they never had a fleet of their own. So they had nothing to fight against the Crawling Cindy and had to retreat to colonies on other planets. But since they were researchers, they developed the entire Cindy technology, and over time they also built some battleships that could take part in battles. Because they would never allow themselves to be expelled from their homes.
At the same time, the water tribe does not want to be expelled. To everyone's surprise, they were much better equipped than generally believed. They gave Crawling Cindy a tenacious resistance and persevered to the end. Their strong fighting power also put some pressure on the humanoid tribe during the war. The humanoid Cindy had been at war with the aquatic tribe for several years. The only one not involved in the fight is Cindy the bird. They retreated to the high mountains of Sindia, where they lived in caves. Naturally occurring magnetic fields disrupt all technology. The Sindhias have also never been able to develop shielding against these fields. Therefore, birds are safe there. Because they would not be disturbed there due to the inaccessibility of the location. Only bird Cindy has the ability to get there.
When the war had been going on for more than a hundred years and no one believed there would be an end anymore, the Crawling Cindy, together with the Insect Cindy, detonated seismic bombs in five geologically critical areas of the equatorial continent. This is a disastrous decision. It is believed that they intended to sink the continent, then inhabited only by humanoid Cindy and tree-dwelling animals, into the sea. But whether this was actually their intention can only be speculated at this time. Because these bombs set off a chain reaction that led to the complete destruction of the entire planet within minutes. No one had a chance to escape. All living things on the planet at that moment were killed. Thousands of Sindhias. No one knows the exact number. In the chaos of war, everyone loses sight. But it is estimated that the death toll may be around 400 million. To this day, there is still a piece of debris in orbit around the sun that once supported the life of Sindi. The Sindi themselves survived because they had long since begun traveling across the universe and established many new colonies.
But with the destruction of their home planet, peace came. The incident had a profound impact on all Sindi people. Shocked at the loss of life. But also saddened by the loss of the planet they once developed on. Finally, there is a loss of the Cindy race. Because birds are the only species that have not left their home planet. They did not establish a colony and were thus wiped out along with the planet. The loss hit all five remaining races hard, though no one would admit it despite the crawling Cindy.
Arms ceasefire and eventually peace treaty signed. In order to be able to resolve future disputes peacefully, they formed a parliament. They reached an agreement for future cooperation. Over time, old characters returned. This is natural and no one is pushing it on purpose. Gradually, but inexorably. Crawling Cindy resumed her role as a warrior and built an army, while humanoid Cindy refocused on research. This also affects ship construction. Therefore, except for a few battleships, their ships remained the smallest. Small, fast, and agile, but far less armed than the ships of other races.
When Otis walks into the bridge, the council location on the target planet is visible on the main screen. It was small at first, after all, they were still far from their destination. But over time, it grew larger and larger until it eventually took up the entire screen. To Otis, this was not a particularly beautiful planet. Although it is a planet that can support life, its conditions are at the extreme edge of the scale that can support life. This is visible from space as it is a large, sandy-yellow rock punctuated by gray mountains, with a circumference of just 15,000 kilometers. A tiny planet, simply because its extremely iron core has enough mass to create a suitable gravity field and thus be able to maintain an atmosphere. If you look closely, you can also see that there is indeed vegetation on the planet. It's just a few sparse, frugal plants, but at least there are. There are even more trees and shrubs near the only settlement once established by the Sindi people. All were painstakingly grown and maintained. The effort isn't really worth it. Still, they're trying. Because normally, colonies are populated only by humanoid Cindy and arboreal animals. And these trees can make arboreal animals feel comfortable only in green forests. And there are no green forests here. These trees were specially planted to make their stay as bearable as possible. Therefore, maintaining this small living space is absolutely priceless.
Otis was well aware that they were now in a small research colony, and during this meeting it was receiving more attention than ever before. It was chosen as the location for negotiations simply because it was the closest of all the Sindi colonies to the Federation. This was supposed to be a gesture towards the Federation, at least as a relatively neutral place. But for the colonists, this came with considerable restrictions. They have some security measures in place which are not liked by all the residents. But ensuring the safety of their guests is an absolute priority. After all, there can be no accidents.
But now it appears. Otis still couldn't believe it. They have imagined everything and considered everything. Why did things still go wrong? How did this disaster happen? He hopes to find answers here. Because not only does he have to report what happened to his own government, he also has to submit a report to the federation. After all, he was the one who recommended this meeting. And so far, none of the five governments has taken responsibility or notified the federation. To Otis, this was a scandal. In this case, the Federation may believe that the Sindi are behind this. But his concerns didn't seem to interest anyone. On the other hand, he could understand. Who wants to be the bearer of bad news? But delaying tactics didn't make things better.
"Connect me to the leader responsible for security." Otis ordered. He wondered who was in charge of security after the disaster. The entire diplomatic team was killed. Likewise, the security director and deputy director designated for this meeting. They were all in buildings that now don't exist.
The captain simply accepted the order silently and nodded to the communications officer. He didn't like taking orders on his ship. But the orders from his superiors were clear. During this mission, Otis had supreme command. Therefore, he must comply, whether he likes it or not.
Waited for some time. It was a little too long for Otis. He could barely control his impatience. He desperately wanted to know what was going on. What he wished most was that he could handle everything himself, but that was impossible. So he had no choice but to wait. The communications officer speaks softly and calmly to the person on the other end of the communication. Time seemed to drag on indefinitely. But eventually he turned around. "Right now, the Crawling Cindy are controlling the area. They are not allowing anyone to enter the planet. They say they must first restore order and ensure the necessary security. Then, individual council members can visit the site in person."
Otis was filled with anger, an emotion no member of the Council should be feeling. He felt fooled by the crawling Sindy. "It's obviously stalling for time," he said excitedly. "What does Creepy Cindy want to do?"
