Read Online Out of the Dark by David Weber - Free Book Online

the other hand, were horrified not by the natives’ appalling lack of skill, but by their ferocity. I’m sure many of the Council’s members doubt they would ever survive to achieve hyper-capability without blowing themselves up. I think others, though, are afraid they might. That the Hegemony could find itself faced with a second Shongair Empire.”
    He let more of his canines show in reaction to that thought, and saw his own response mirrored by his subordinates. The Shongair Empire had no intention of allowing any rivals to arise. Not that anyone as pathetic at using its own military resources as this species could ever challenge the Empire, of course.
    “Before our departure on this mission, it was suggested to me by the Imperial Minister for Colonization that the Council sees authorizing our colonization of KU-197-20 as a means of striking down two prey with a single claw. First, it gives us a toy to keep us satisfied and occupied, poor primitive creatures that we are. Second, it presumably short-circuits this species’ probable self-destruction and also eliminates any threat to the Hegemony’s peace it might someday pose. In fact, while the Council would never admit it openly, it was clearly intimated to Minister for Colonization Vairtha by none over than Vice-Speaker Koomaatkia that the Council has determined that
something
needs to be done about these creatures, and that . . . fewer questions than usual will be asked about our tactics in KU-197-20’s case.”
    Several of his subordinates pricked their ears at that sentence, and his own flipped in a grim smile. Koomaatkia was a Kreptu, and the Kreptu were one of the Hegemony’s original founding members. They’d also been among the Shongairi’s more persistent critics, although never to the same degree as the Barthoni and Liatu, yet they were famed for a certain pragmatism, as well. No doubt the notion of using one problem to solve or prevent another one
would
appeal to them. And they were a highly consensual species. No Kreptu as prominent as Clan Lady Koomaatkia’n’haarnaathak of Chorumaa would ever have breathed even a hint of such a thing to Minister for Colonization Vairtha if it had not, in fact, embodied the
Council’s
consensus. And that meant. . . .
    “I’m sure,” Thikair continued, “that she and some of the Council’s other members hope these creatures will prove sufficiently difficult for us to manage that we’ll find ourselves forced to slow our own rate of colonization and expansion. They’d all like that, whether they ever admitted it or not. Butmost importantly of all, to their thinking, our conquest of these creatures’ homeworld will keep
them
from becoming a problem to the rest of the Hegemony in the fullness of time.
    “And that, of course, was their thinking when they had no idea of how insanely rapid these ‘humans’’ rate of technological process might become. Let’s not forget the Ugartu. Is there any officer sitting at this table who believes the Hegemony Council didn’t feel deeply relieved when the Ugartu self-destructed?” His lips wrinkled back from his teeth in contempt. “All the weed-eaters—and most of the omnivores, too, for that matter—are far too hypocritical, far too aware of their own towering moral stature, to ever admit anything of the kind, but we know better, don’t we?”
    His officers looked back at him in equally contemptuous agreement, and his ears flipped another shrug.
    “So even if this is a Level Two civilization, some members of the Council would shed no tears if the ‘humans’ were to find themselves subordinated to the Empire. They’d see it as the lesser of two evils, I think. As I said, the Barthoni and Liatu might disagree, but less vehemently than usual this time. And even if they did, it seems clear from Vice-Speaker Koomaatkia’s comments to the Minister that they would find themselves with fewer allies than they’d probably expect. Against that background, I think