A Call to Darkness - Michael Jan Friedman [67]
“Judging by what we’ve observed, however, the Klah’kimmbri were nearly annihilated. Their colonies were destroyed, their outposts crushed. No doubt, A’klah itself sustained serious damage. Such a complete and utter defeat must have left its mark on the Klah’kimmbri-affected them as a culture.” He cleared his throat. “While I could find no similar cases on an interplanetary scale, I was able to locate relevant intraplanetary case studies. Instances of expanding, warlike civilizations suddenly beaten down by unexpected and vastly more powerful enemies. The Mutil, for instance, of pre-colonization Stanhague. The Lek of Fythrian’n Five. And others.
“In each case, the lesser culture was traumatized by the brush with extinction. Even given a new opportunity to engage in imperialism, it ignored that option-and turned its aggressive instincts inward, upon itself, in the form of factionalization, feuding and quite often self-destruction.”
“Very interesting,” said Riker. “Then the military encounters we recorded might originally have been real conflicts.” He turned to Data. “Border wars-wasn’t that your first thought when you saw the broadcasts?”
The android nodded. “It was, sir.”
“That’s certainly one possibility,” Fong resumed. “In any case, if I’m right, there were some sort of battles going on-Klah’kimmbri against Klah’kimmbri. But it was far from irrational, I believe, or they probably would have finished the job that the Cantiliac started. As we know, wars are often fought for other reasons than those put forth to the general population; I think it was that way on A’klah. The military establishment-or establishments-must have recognized that the only way for them to remain in power was for there to be war. If not interplanetary, then intraplanetary. So they created and maintained a series of token conflicts. Serious enough to hold the people’s interest-but not so destructive that it would finally obliterate Klah’kimmbri society.
“Eventually, these clashes became televised-apparently, to rebuild the shattered morale of the various populations on the planet. The Klah’kimmbri saw once again that it was possible to emerge victorious-perhaps on a daily basis. It might have been a key force in the resurrection of this civilization.”
“However,” said Riker, “it’s no longer the Klah’kimmbri carrying on these battles. They may be watching them-but they’re being fought by off-worlders.”
The security officer nodded. “I have a theory about that, too. You see, people-any people-will tolerate a war only for so long. In time, they get tired of dying-of giving up their loved ones. That’s true even of so-called popular wars. So as the Klah’kimmbri military redeveloped the planet’s technological base, it put an emphasis on certain programs. For one, an advanced transporter capability-so crews could be snatched off passing ships. Particularly, when those ships are unable to defend themselves-either because they’re damaged or for lack of armaments. Another technology that would have been critical is the one that produces the energy mantle. In that way, the Klah’kimmbri could prevent casual observers-or rescue missions, like ours-from discovering what they’re up to with all those off-worlders.”
Merriwether leaned forward. “Do you think they made a mistake,” she asked, “when they beamed down the captain and the others? I mean, if these people have gone to such lengths to keep their operation a secret-why steal our away team right from under our noses? Why arouse suspicion?”
Riker hadn’t thought about it up until then. “You may be right,” he told the engineering officer. “It may have been some kind of blunder. A failure of the right hand to know what the left hand was doing.” He shrugged. “At any rate, they’re not about to admit to it-or to anything else, for that matter.”
“So where does all this leave us?” asked Troi. She’d been silent up until now, listening. After all, that was a large part of her job. But it was also her job to put matters