TRANSLATED STARDATE: 93319.7
Spoiler: Show
It seems like the stuff of science fiction success stories. A civilization develops space travel and begins to explore the galactic neighborhood. They discover that not only are they not alone in the universe, but a whole federation of alien alliances exists and co-exists peacefully, putting lie to dozens of fear-fueled nightmare scenarios of alien invaders or conquerers, and the fledgling civilization is welcomed to their new status as spacefarers by a whole community of open-minded and friendly alien nations.
But it has all turned out to be just a fairy tale.
In a stunning reversal, the Echomet World Union today voted against a referendum that would have paved the way for Echomet to join the United Federation of Planets, the grand planetary alliance with which Echomet first made contact a scant three years ago. For months, Echomet natives have cooperated tirelessly with Federation agents, providing whatever information was desired in an open-hearted attempt to join their distinguished union of peace and prosperity. From allowing their agents to land on our homeworld and experience our communities, to providing them centuries worth of knowledge on our history in science, medical and engineering advancements, we dared ourselves to dream that we could be accepted among the other aliens as equals and peers.
But government officials were heartbroken when the Federation returned their verdict of 'conditional acceptance' on Echomet's application. In a statement by Prime Minister Rieskl, he recalls outloud that he assumed the conditions would be some kind of financial compensation or material fee, which he would have been prepared to deliver and happily so. He was dismayed instead to discover that the Federation was demanding changes to our process of government, to coerce us into altering our code of laws and change the eligibility requirements of elected officials.
"I was offended," Rieskl admits in our interview with him, after the vote's results were revealed. "Though I tried not to show it. It didn't seem to me that their place would be to tell us how to run our world, and no one can say we haven't been doing wonderfully on our own up until now. Their demands, while I think perhaps they are well-intentioned, seemed unreasonable to me."
Unwilling to act as the sole decider of such a symbolically important issue, Rieskl took the conditional acceptance terms to the World Union, where it was debated for several days before going to a formal vote. The vote failed by more than a three-quarters majority.
"The World Union has decided to reject the United Federation of Planets' offer of conditional acceptance to their vaunted alliance," Rieskl spoke in this morning's planetary address. "We have made it this far on our own and without any assistance from them, and so we will continue. I would rather remain true to our world's values and make our own path than fall in line with the demands of aliens who can't comprehend why we have chosen to live our lives the way we do."
In other words: thanks, but no thanks, Federation. This is Jolinmei signing off, with the Echomet Daily Bulletin.
But it has all turned out to be just a fairy tale.
In a stunning reversal, the Echomet World Union today voted against a referendum that would have paved the way for Echomet to join the United Federation of Planets, the grand planetary alliance with which Echomet first made contact a scant three years ago. For months, Echomet natives have cooperated tirelessly with Federation agents, providing whatever information was desired in an open-hearted attempt to join their distinguished union of peace and prosperity. From allowing their agents to land on our homeworld and experience our communities, to providing them centuries worth of knowledge on our history in science, medical and engineering advancements, we dared ourselves to dream that we could be accepted among the other aliens as equals and peers.
But government officials were heartbroken when the Federation returned their verdict of 'conditional acceptance' on Echomet's application. In a statement by Prime Minister Rieskl, he recalls outloud that he assumed the conditions would be some kind of financial compensation or material fee, which he would have been prepared to deliver and happily so. He was dismayed instead to discover that the Federation was demanding changes to our process of government, to coerce us into altering our code of laws and change the eligibility requirements of elected officials.
"I was offended," Rieskl admits in our interview with him, after the vote's results were revealed. "Though I tried not to show it. It didn't seem to me that their place would be to tell us how to run our world, and no one can say we haven't been doing wonderfully on our own up until now. Their demands, while I think perhaps they are well-intentioned, seemed unreasonable to me."
Unwilling to act as the sole decider of such a symbolically important issue, Rieskl took the conditional acceptance terms to the World Union, where it was debated for several days before going to a formal vote. The vote failed by more than a three-quarters majority.
"The World Union has decided to reject the United Federation of Planets' offer of conditional acceptance to their vaunted alliance," Rieskl spoke in this morning's planetary address. "We have made it this far on our own and without any assistance from them, and so we will continue. I would rather remain true to our world's values and make our own path than fall in line with the demands of aliens who can't comprehend why we have chosen to live our lives the way we do."
In other words: thanks, but no thanks, Federation. This is Jolinmei signing off, with the Echomet Daily Bulletin.