A picture burst onto the screen, a scene of desolation. A camera panned across a lifeless waste of strip mines and dead foliage, a few bursts of lightning showing in the background.

A narrator's voice sounded out in English. "This world was once vibrant, full of life, and home to a hundred and fifty million sentient inhabitants."

The scene changed, now showing a still picture of a giant grasshopper. "The Nickt-Hists of Rynar Six are just one race of victims, their extermination one of the countless American atrocities among the stars. Worlds rich in life and resources are stripped daily by our marauding brethren, all for the perpetuation of the industrial war machine, in the name of individuality and freedom of choice. Didn't the Nickt-Hists deserve better? How much longer are we going to sit idly by, while these marauding Humans destroy that which we are pledged to protect?"

The video clip ended, with the blue and green orb symbol of the Scife Confederacy.

"We have intercepted dozens of messages like this in recent years. We may not understand all of the language yet, but the visualizations are clear. How do you refute the allegation of your own people?" Edri asked, glaring sternly at Sophia.

"Scife propaganda? Your whole outlook on humanity is based on the fabricated propaganda of Scientific Fundamentalists?"

"You claim that your own people fabricated this broadcast? For what purpose?"

"Well, first of all, they're not my people. They are a separate governing body, who rule several of our oldest off-world colonies. They're radicals, who have built their entire society around flawed scientific doctrine of conformity and genetic predisposition. They put out propaganda like this, in the hopes of gaining support among the uneducated and ill-informed."

"You are saying that your people are divided among yourselves? You have no unified societal order?"

"There are quite a few minor governmental bodies on Earth and among our outer colonies, but there really are only 2 major forces; those belonging to the United American Republic, and those of the Scife Confederacy."

"You primitives! How could you creatures have achieved high technology when you cannot unify your own governance? Such disharmony and chaos is unacceptable! You don't deserve the worlds you inhabit."

"Nor do you, if yours is truly the imperialistic empire you have described," Sophia argued.

Activating the subdermal implant and shouting in his own language, Edri called for his guards to return. The pair stormed in and dragged Sophia out of her chair, each yanking on an arm so hard she felt they were going to rip them from the sockets.

"Hear this, Human," Edri scolded, pointing a hairy finger at Sophia. "We'll find out if you're telling the truth about your people, and you'd better be lying. Such chaotic and unconformed a species as yours will not be tolerated among the stars. If you really are a race of splintered leadership, I will see to it that your kind are driven back to hard soil and made to pay accordingly for overstepping your bounds."

"You don't actually think Humanity will stand by as you impose your rule upon us," Sophia said, struggling to get free of the guards, to no avail.

"This ship alone has destroyed two of your warships in the past month without so much as a scratch on her hull. I do not foresee your people posing much of a threat." He followed with a shout in his own language, ordering the guards to drag Sophia back to her cell.

Throwing himself into his chair, Edri clawed the sides of his narrow head, easing the tension from the heated conversation. The task before him was far greater than he had ever envisioned. These accursed humans were a grave threat, regardless of their true disposition.

As a skilled propagandist, himself, accustomed to persuading entire worlds of aliens to kneel before his race in submission, Edri was generally able to read sentient beings fairly well. With Sophia, he was hitting a brick wall. He didn't know what to believe when he talked to her, and he didn't want to believe what she told him. The prospect of her species grew more distasteful the more he learned of it.

Before he could gather his thoughts and proceed with further investigations into the true nature of humanity, a chime sounded at his door, and in stormed a small female of the linguist corps, Edri's leading researcher into Lesher society.

"Ah, Triski Berdane, what's new on the Lesher front?" Edri asked, feeling better at the sight of his attractive subordinate.

"Your conditioning on Hissar failed, sir," Triski replied reluctantly.

"What?" Edri asked in disbelief.

"I'm not sure what happened. All of the encephalographic scans and psychological profiling proved he was ready for reimplantation into society with the mental programming, but since he was returned to the planet our monitor implants have registered a slow and steady reversion of the brain chemistry, and the audio implant has recorded a very suspect conversation during which he expressed a strong desire to oppose us."

"Curses,” Edri muttered, feeling slighted by the failure.

“I would advise that we devise an ulterior method of persuasion," Triski mentioned. “I doubt the average Lesher could comprehend flesh-eating aliens from the stars.”

"You’re my primary expert on the Leshers. Give me some options by tomorrow," Edri said.

"And what of Doctor Hissar?" Triski asked.

"Wait a few days. See what he says, monitor the course of mental reversion, and if he poses a threat we'll send a team down to extract him, but take no action without my explicit authorization."

Triski bowed in submission and departed, leaving Edri to ponder yet another headache of a situation.