"Point our laser antennas at Vega, Delta Serpentis, and Beta Aquilae," Captain Sova orders. "We have to get this data to the GTVA."

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Serkr and his crew have amazing insight into Shivan activity. I took notes while they discussed Shivan behavior in the Marcus Glaive’s mess hall.

The truth is even more horrifying than we feared.

The Shivans are diversity-maximizers and change-inflictors. That's what they did during the great war: They forced the GTA and the PVN to change, rapidly and expediently. Change is not a gradual process to the Shivans, it’s explosive and violent. Those alien monsters might have been around forever, but they’re certainly not patient.

Prior to the second incursion, the GTVA was too stable. Too comfortable. Too static. Some evidence suggests that Nagari activity may have been responsible for triggering the NTF rebellion. When the NTF failed to shake up the alliance, the Shivans took more direct action.

Obviously, the Shivan motives behind the Capella supernova were more complex than merely destroying a densely-populated star system. But the ensuing chain-reaction of events after the obliteration of Capella did satisfy the Shivan imperative of inflicting change.

This is the future we face: A future where the alliance has to be radically different, on a generation-by-generation basis. It will never the same twice, never repeating, always diverging and coming apart, unfurling and explosively evolving into something new. 

MORPHEUS was a waste of time. The elimination of all N-sensitive individuals is useless beyond useless. Every neural and computational structure in the universe can be accessed through the Nagari network. Yes, even computers, as shown by the logs of the GTC Duke. N-sensitives, through some fluke, just happen to be capable of interpreting and broadcasting those quantum signals. ETAK, an N-sensitive computer, could do the same.

The Shivans are intergalactic terrorists, with infinite resources and unimaginable technology at their disposal. We will never defeat them by force of arms.

Serkr believes the Shivans can detect the hacking of free will from the other side of the universe, literally able to sense dominance, coercion, fear, and propaganda through the Nagari hunting sense. Every tool that a government can use to inflict its will upon others is compromised by Shivan psi-war.

Let me say that again, in case I was unclear in some way: 

EVERY TOOL THAT A GOVERNMENT CAN USE TO INFLICT ITS WILL UPON OTHERS IS COMPROMISED BY SHIVAN PSI-WAR.

Now for the real nightmare: This is the first pattern match for Shivan behavior that we’ve ever had. This isn’t speculative. This isn’t up for debate. There’s no room for interpretation or doubt.

We don’t need to get rid of N-sensitives, we need to get rid of authority. The enforcement of law could explode another star. The practice of taxation flirts with apocalypse. Under threat of extinction, we must shatter the chain of command, and never look back.

We need to invent, and then transition into, an entirely anti-hierarchical society. Every second we waste in hesitation is another step toward extinction. Centralized authority is a cancer, which if not destroyed by our own action, will be cauterized by the next Shivan onslaught.

Psychologists, sociologists, and economists have their work cut out for them. There is no upper limit to how weird this can get, and we cannot afford to aim any lower than infinity.

- Captain Michael Sova, GTCv Arcane 

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Michael Sova finished typing, then immediately stabbed the ‘transmit’ key.

But Alpha Centauri was full of nothing but military bases and weapon testing ranges. The GTVA already locked down Alpha Centauri, because two-way communication with the UEF was possible across such a short interstellar distance.

“Slew the antenna to Delta Serpentis,” Sova ordered, then sent the same message. It would be 14 years before anyone saw it - Delta Serpentis was 14 light-years away. But Delta Serpentis had a civilian population of almost fifteen million. No one would ever succeed in covering that up.

Beam after beam of encoded ultraviolet light flashed toward GTVA systems. He beamed his message to Regulus, Sirius, Ross 128, Adhara, even Beta Aquilae, the seat of power for the GTVA.

“Point the antenna at the Marcus Glaive”

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Admiral Serkr? It’s Sova. I am all-in. One-hundred percent committed to your vision for the alliance. I can never take back what I just transmitted to the entire GTVA. Let’s win this war.
