“We demanded unconditional surrender for a reason, so that after everything is over, we can treat everyone equally, and I have no plans of making an exception for your people specifically. However, I can promise you that we already have a vaccine that will ensure no one else will be able to attack your civilization through the sa weakness,” Aron said calmly, responding to Kasron’s request for a conditional surrender, where he wanted to add a few conditions backed by a mana oath to guarantee the highest level of protection and privilege possible for his civilization.
Kasron closed his eyes when his request was denied. The only saving grace was the emperor’s words, which hinted that he was going to treat all civilizations equally. Although being treated equally would be a downgrade from the privileges they were used to, it was a relief that they would not be actively mistreated. The most convincing part was the vaccine aspect, as it ant the emperor was not planning on keeping that weakness around for others to exploit or for it to be accidentally triggered.
Following his words, Aron remained silent, as he saw no need to be the one to speak first since he had already said all he needed to. The decision now remained with Kasron.
“What is your end goal?” Kasron asked after a minute of silence.
“I’m sure you already went through our history and know the reason for the formation of the empire,” he paused for a mont before saying, “Peace under centralized control. In our civilization, we have an idiom that says too many cooks spoil the broth. I believe it is the sa with the leadership of a connected system. Every civilization has different targets and needs, which leads to different interests that might sotis conflict with one another, complicating the situation. The history between civilizations is no different, and all of these can be avoided if there is a central point of control that can reduce as many of these potential flashpoints as possible, as it would allow for all civilizations to have access to most of their needs without wars.”
“Even if you win the war, I don’t think you will have an easy ti bringing all the other civilizations to agree to follow your idea of peace. I believe having us completely on your side will reduce the possibility of fracture as much as possible,” Kasron said, subtly trying to remind Aron that ending the war was not the end of everything, but just the start of the next problem, which was more complex. Unlike straightforward fighting, where killing one another was the definitive way of ending it, uniting everyone under a single organization had many ways it could be accomplished, and the chosen way would determine how long that unity could realistically last.
“Overwhelming force and fear can handle that,” Aron, who caught on to it imdiately, answered without wasting a mont.
“Yes, it does, but won’t it just force them to bide their ti for when the union shows a weakness, the sa way you did to us to force our fracture? But if you make the fundantal changes from the ntality side of things, then all of those problems would be removed, and you won’t have to always maintain a large amount of forces just to keep the masses under control,” Kasron, not giving up, tried to reason despite knowing the chances of it failing were higher than succeeding.
“What do you get out of this if we decide to go with your idea? I’m sure you know that I can’t show favoritism at the start of a united front, right?”
“I know that. What I want in return for having our entire civilization fully cooperating is the guarantee of my and my family’s safety, along with my chosen group of people’s safety,” Kasron said, finally revealing what he was targeting from the start.
From the start, he knew the empire, having the upper hand, was not going to accept most of their conditions since they could win on their own. So he tried to co up with ways of saving himself and his close people, since the empire would definitely start by making an example of all who had backed this war, and leaders like him were the pri target.
Aron went silent, tapping the table for a mont while considering his options. He weighed accepting the offer based on the ti they would be able to save thanks to the Zelvoras’ cooperation, but none of this was captured by Kasron since Aron’s surroundings were operating at a hundred tis ti compression. This allowed him to have ample ti to think about his every word while the other side was relatively paused in ti, making him appear as if he had considered everything beforehand, which makes for quite a creepy feeling if you are on the receiving end of it.
“rcy can be used as a tool for uniting everyone, so I will agree on the condition of keeping you alive, but your movents will be limited to within a single star system. How does that sound?” Aron offered after considering many things, though to Kasron he appeared to answer imdiately after he made his request.
“A star system is enough for us to flourish,” Kasron said imdiately upon hearing this, as it was an even better outco than he had expected, and he was afraid that Aron would take back his offer if he wasted any more ti.
“That is not only for you and your people. Everyone tried and considered liable for the war, but exempted from being punished by the empire will be placed within that star system,” Aron added shortly, dumping cold water on the excited Kasron.
It took a mont for Kasron to adjust to the additional information, but not having much of a choice to save himself and his family, he said, “I don’t have much option to negotiate,” sounding like soone who had already given up on his fate and was ready to take whatever offer was in front of him.
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