Majgen Ch. 011

This chapter is about Hawlun, and the war, a flashback to the past. It was never my intension to keep you all in suspense regarding Majgen's past. There are just so many things to tell, I can't do it all at once.

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----=(Resources)=----

The war between yijejos and humans begun 211 years prior to Majgen's birth, basically the war was a conflict over a certain region of space. The area in question had originally been discovered by a crew of humans flying a small ship named Jade. This fact was not to be found in any history books or governmental records at Majgen's time though. Not on the human side, nor on the yijejoan.

For fifteen years, the Jade's crew searched uncharted space for good mining spots. They did not have the funds to start mining colonies themselves, but knowledge of coordinates of good mining spots was worth a lot of money in itself. Like most other adventurers -- in professions where profit was based on chance -- every member of the crew day-dreamed of good finds. They all fantasised about that 'Final Find', the one that would earn them enough money to retire wealthy. Once they came across their 'Final Find' it was more than they had ever dreamt of.

What they found was the biggest compilation of geological resources ever discovered - by either yijejo or human.

The wealth of resources was split out on rock-like gatherings of mass ranging in size from basketballs to planetary. The masses were in stable orbits, some with each other as well as a close-by sun. Such a density of useful resources in one area was unheard of at that time. The cosmic mechanics that could form a cluster region like this was unknown to both humans and yijejos. Of course, not knowing how the resources came to exist, and be placed in such a spatially favourable manner, would not prevent either race from harvesting the result.

If the crew on the Jade had been honest, then, maybe, war between yijejos and humans could have been avoided. If the Jade had only sold the knowledge of this system to one company from either species, then that one species would have been able to truly claim the area - before the other even knew of it. Maybe, if that had been the case, the other species would not have claimed a right to the territory too.

But the crew on the Jade were not honest.

They sold the coordinates to no less than forty different human mining companies and fifteen different yijejoan companies, finally they sold the knowledge to a yijejoan tri-planetary government. Afterwards the Jade's crew disappeared into human society with their wealth. None of them ever stood forward to admit their crimes.

At first the resourceful area in question was dubbed with many, more or less imaginative, names by both yijejos and humans. Thirty years after its discovery, however, only one name remained.

The War Zone.

In the beginning fighting in the territory had mainly been between companies wanting to claim the same areas, or simply to steal resources already mined by others. The civilian companies wisely avoided the mining complexes of -- the only governmental representation -- the yijejos from the tri-planetary coalition. Those avoided the companies too and made sure not to venture beyond their own claimed area.

A state of stable chaos persisted for as long as four years. The concept that eventually broke the balance was peace.

Governments on the yijejo side and the single human government started trying to settle conflicts in the area. Extensive treaties were negotiated. Peace-forces were dispatched to the area by both yijejoan governments and the human government, to ensure those treaties were respected.

The first clash between yijejo governmental forces and human GED entities was a case of mistaken identity by both sides. After one extended battle with losses of life on both sides the mistake was discovered, and diplomatic measures taken to prevent war.

Neither side desired war.

The yijejos were the first to propose a more formal splitting of the territory into species-specific areas. The humans adopted the idea instantly and negotiations began. Sadly, the only matter the participants in those negotiations could agree upon was the need to split the area.

At first the humans were tentative in their diplomatic negotiations with the yijejo. The human government suspected that if war should ensue then humanity could not resist a gathered yijejoan attack. The human government feared extinction. They did have good reason to believe that if the entire yijejo species should unite in war against humans, then human kind would not stand a chance.

According to yijejoan history, the yijejos had previously been in an extinction war with another intelligent species - this around seven-thousand years prior to the first encounter between humans and yijejos. The yijejos had won that war; the other species no longer existed.

The yijejos claimed to be ashamed of their ancestors' actions in that regard. The human government wasn't convinced the shame was genuine, not even convinced the opponent species had ever existed. The humans did, however, have the impression that the yijejos were not looking for excuses to eradicate the human species.

In the past yijejos had been unexpectedly easy to push into withdrawing from resources. In the few prior conflicts between the two species over smaller mining spots, yijejos had always, in the end, given in to the wishes of the human government.

The humans, however, were not aware that yijejos in general had run out of patience with the smaller and less resourceful human population.

This time the yijejos were not inclined to yield.

----=(Prelude to war)=----

The human government was extremely eager to increase the amount of resources harvested by humans, whether by private companies or governmental authorities. During the initial negotiations between human and yijejo governments both sides had agreed not to let their citizens set up new mining spots nor to expand current mining operations to a degree that would require more population or traffic in the area.

Advisors in the human government had a nearly mythical impression of the yijejos' aversion to war and violence, and successfully transferred this impression to the decision making parts of same government. The general belief amongst humans -- that yijejos had strong pacifist traits -- was clear from certain phrases in top secret reports in the GRD and GED, the resource and law enforcing divisions.

Quote from a report regarding yijejoan interest in the zone of conflict: "...The yijejos do not desire these mining opportunities as severely as we do, they will not be willing to fight as hard for them as we will..."

Quote from a report analysing yijejoan psychology regarding the zone of conflict. "...In summary the yijejos are constantly looking for ways to consider themselves better than humans. More incidents of accidental combat between our species, in particular incidents were humans come to harm, will make it harder for the yijejos to uphold an image to their own public of being less violent and more understanding, hence in their eyes more evolved, than us...

...Further accidents will very likely cause a greater desperation on the yijejoan side to complete the negotiations, simply to avoid further bloodshed. If the mistakes are made by our side the yijejos would be very likely to take this as a sign of human inferiority. As already explained previously in this report this might be a cause for the yijejos to treat us with less respect, however, more importantly it would motivate the yijejos to...Quite frankly Ladies and Sirs, they would spoil us as children...

...This report recommends that we embrace the yijejoan view of humans as inferior beings, to gain further advantages. With the reports from the GRD stating that we are not truly dependant on trading with the yijejos we have no real need for their respect, quite the contrary their despise would be advantageous at this time..."

Quote from a personal, albeit top secret, voice letter: "...Will you stop fussing about the 'what if's regarding superior yijejoan firepower. If they aren't willing to fight then it doesn't matter if there are more of them than of us. Just stop to consider this: Their own historical files claim that six thousand years ago a species with the emotional capacity of bugs tried to annihilate the entire yijejo species. The yijejos actually feel guilty about exterminating such vermin. If you take a look at what has happened right now yijejoan news broadcasts display a widespread consternation in the general yijejo population regarding humans having been killed by yijejos. Even if we made threats to exterminate their species they would hesitate to war us, yet all we want is a bigger piece of this pie. The yijejoan companies are willing to fight over money, but the yijejonations will not start an actual war over something as mundane as resources..."

Quote from a personal, albeit top secret, long range communication: "... A few more accidents and they will give us everything we want..."

While the negotiations between humans and yijejos dragged out, with no signs of progress, there were further clashes between human and yijejo governmental forces. Officially those encounters were innocent, although lethal, mishaps like the first. In reality, however, the majority of the 'mishaps' were planned by the human GED - Governmental law Enforcing Division. The GED's purpose with causing these events was to entice the yijejos to be more indulgent to the wishes of the human government.

At first the plan seemed to be working, but someone within the GED got careless and assigned persons with inside knowledge of the top secret scheme to the peace-keeping forces.

During the seventeenth 'accidental' clash between official yijejo and human peacekeeping forces, the yijejos managed to pacify rather than destroy the battleship manned by their human opponents. The human crew was captured alive and subsequently mind-scanned by yijejo officers. Four captured human officers knew the combat they had just taken part in had not been accidental.

The yijejos were furious when they learned of the humans' deceit. The ongoing negotiations were immediately abandoned. Two yijejoan days - sixteen human days - later, the yijejos sent a truce-offering to the human government. The truce offering contained nearly forty-thousand words in the humana translation, but the meaning could have been condensed to far less words:

The yijejos regarded the conscious aggression, displayed by human governmental forces, to be a declaration of war.

The yijejos would accept resumption of peace if all armed human governmental forces left the designated area within five human days.

If any armed human governmental vessels were to remain in the area past those five days, peace would not resume. If any armed human governmental vessels should enter the area within the following twenty years the yijejos would consider it a declaration of war.

Any armed human vessel spotted in the area within the following twenty years, would be destroyed on sight.

After resumption of peace unarmed human vessels engaged in mining enterprises could be allowed to enter the area after seeking permission.

The human government was appalled at the contents of the truce. Yet the frightening aspect of the document was not the content, rather it was the signatures attached; the truce had been signed by every existing yijejo government, this sign of yijejoan unity made sweat break out on many foreheads belonging to human officials.

At first the human nation complied with the terms of the yijejoan truce, but upon noticing the smallish size of the united yijejoan peacekeeping force the humans became less docile. Less than a month after the yijejoan truce had been offered, the humans officially declared war over the lucrative mining area.

After that the war just kept itself going, but didn't spread more than one days flight beyond the borders of the War Zone. Ten years into the war the last civilians fled the War Zone, and all mining operations in the area ceased.

----=(Hawlun)=----

For 189 years no resources were mined in the War Zone by either species. No one dared start up mining ventures in the midst of the war, not until the GHD - Governmental Habitat Division - approved a permit for the Hawlun mining company twelve years prior to Majgen's birth.

The yijejos never attacked civilian vessels bringing supplies to the War Zone, the only occurrences of yijejos destroying such supply transports took place in the days when the human side still supplied military escorts for their civilian ships. Back then the civilian ships would sometimes get caught in crossfire when the yijejos attacked the military escort.

The human planet Lorean was less than two days flight from the war zone, yet the yijejos never attacked it.

189 years into the war the human government felt convinced that the yijejos would not attack civilian targets, not even in the middle of the War Zone. The yijejos didn't even attempt to intercept the civilian inter-species traders. Which were by humans called smugglers and treacherous criminals, vermin to be hunted and killed whenever possible.

No progress had been made in taking over the War Zone by aggressive means, in the previous one hundred years. However, prior to giving a mining permit to the Hawlun company, the GHD stipulated it would be possible to take over the zone by passive means. The theory was that: Since the yijejos seemed intentnot to attack civilians the War Zone could be taken over by unarmed civilians engaged in civilian enterprises.

This hypothesis was tested by the Hawlun mining company, a new corporation - secretly financially sponsored by the GHD. Twelve years prior to Majgen's birth, 189 years into the war, the Hawlun Mining Company started constructing a mining habitat, which they named 'Hawlun'. No Hawlun Mining Company ship was armed in any way, not even the transport vessels that moved expensive equipment into the War Zone and the valuable harvest out. Piracy was a common problem for mining transport vessels at that time, but the need to not be attacked by yijejos was greater than the fear of piracy.

One year after construction of Hawlun had begun, a yijejo patrol encountered a pirate combat vessel engaged in the act of attacking an unarmed Hawlun transport. The yijejo patrol destroyed the pirate ship and subsequently left, ignoring the Hawlun transport completely.

After that day Hawlun transport ships installed yijejo distress signal protocols, to be activated alongside human distress signal protocols, in case of pirate attacks. During the fairly brief history of Hawlun, it happened sometimes that yijejoan ships ignored distress calls from civilian Hawlun ships, but on many occasions yijejoan shipsdid come to the aid of unarmed Hawlun civilians.

Some Hawlun employees considered this a sign that yijejos weren't as monstrous as the media claimed, other Hawlun employees stated that the yijejos only responded to civilian distress calls because that gave them opportunity to also find pirates, which would be human targets on whom theywere allowed to satisfy their desires to kill humans.

For seventeen years the Hawlun mining habitat thrived and grew. Many transports were lost to piracy but financially those losses were easily covered by the ease of mining in the War Zone. In Hawlun's last peaceful days it housed a population of 400,000 children and a bit more than a million adults. The percentage of children in the population was rising as steadily as in any other fairly young mining habitat. Hawlun was placed in a war zone, but in spite of this new Hawlun employees quickly adapted to feeling safe.

"The yijejos may be the ugliest creatures alive, but they eat pirates for breakfast," was a commonly used expression amongst Hawlun employees, especially when newcomers wanted to talk about the war or expressed anxiety regarding the dangerous enemy. Newcomers feared the dreaded enemy species; oldtimers believed they had more to fear from other humans than from yijejos.

----=(To powerlessly watch or wait)=----

"Two GED battle-cruisers have emergency docked on Hawlun. Damaged from recent combat they may be unable to maintain life support without aid. We are trying to find out more about the situation at this very moment." The live transmitting 'on-the-scene' news reporter on the viewer appeared genuinely agitated, she had been reporting local Hawlun news for a few years. However, this had to be the biggest live news event on the mining colony ever.

The five year old Majgen was too young to understand what the fuss was all about. Her parents were obviously very interested in the broadcast, so she tried to be very interested too. She managed to stare at the viewer for as long as half a minute, trying to look like she was concentrating and contemplating, just like her parents, but then she got bored.

"Can I go out and play, Mum?"

"Are you wearing your alarm bracelet, Sugar?" Her mother managed to wrestle her eyes off the monitor long enough to send her daughter a smile.

"I'll fetch it!" The child raced to the hallway and found the electronic device on a mantle there.

"I got it," she yelled, enthusiastically informative, while running back to the living room, she was a bit disappointed that her mother barely seemed to notice her, when she came back with the bracelet. She had wanted to play at home with her parents today, her parents often played with her for hours the day after one of them returned from a mining expedition, and this was such a 'day after'. However today her parents just seemed to want to watch news broadcasts.

Playing with Inga, however, was not a bad second best, Majgen had noticed Inga was on the playground - she had seen that on the building monitors on the living room wall. At Majgen's time many family building complexes had camera surveillance of common areas supplied to each apartment. Combined with alarm bracelets such measures made parents feel safer letting their young children roam more freely on their lonesome.

"Mum, I got the bracelet," Majgen repeated reaching her bracelet-holding hand towards her mother.

"Let me put that on for you," her mother said, finally moving her full attention to her child. She expertly snapped the device to lock around the child's wrist and then held on to her hand while looking lovingly into her daughter's brown eyes.

"Before I activate it, do you remember the emergency voice activation code, Sugar?"

"Muuum! Of course I still remember the code, I'm not a baby!" Majgen complained.

"We've been through this before, Honey, just tell me the code."

"Stop treating me like a baby, Mum, I'm a big girl. I can read lots of words already! And I can write my own name too, and yours and Dads, and lots of other words too!"

"Yes, you are a very clever girl, Sugar, and beautiful too. But! You won't get to run out and play until you demonstrate you remember how to start the alarm on this thing."

"Muuuuum," Majgen complained trying to sound like Inga's older brother did, when complaining to his and Inga's parents.

"No."

"Ice-One-Fire-Ten," Majgen recited the code she had memorised since she became four years old, but still had never needed.

"That's my girl, and never forget that code, Sugar." Her mum was always relieved when she recited the code flawlessly. Once Majgen had recited the code wrong, as a joke, and for days her mother had been scared of letting her out of sight.

"And what do you do if an adult grabs hold of you?" her mother inquired.

"Mum! I'm not a baby."

Her mother had not recited what Majgen considered baby training for a while, and the child was consternated that this habit was resumed now.