The Martollan Dialogues
By Deacon Yilyit Firfir
The Martolla Compact was not founded by an apostate, but by a most devout disciple of the Great Journey. Deacon Babvus Babquit saw that an Unggoy might be faithful but still be subject to the grossest exploitation and abuse. He saw that this could not be the will of the great Forerunners, but only a convenience for the mere San'Shyuum. On the newly conquered methane-atmosphere world of Martolla Babquit led a rising. An alien warship inevitably approached Martolla in response, and Babquit chose to artificially render himself as imposing as possible before hailing the aliens and engaging them in discussion. This diplomatic initiative was the first step in the Martolla Compact's effort to unite the countless peoples of the sprawling Terminus Systems against all outside rule. This is the first of the three great dialogues.
BABQUIT: HEAR YE THE WORDS OF DEACON BABVUS BABQUIT: THE WHOLE REST OF THE COVENANT SHEDS THEIR BLOOD THAT THE SAN'SHYUUM MIGHT DRINK IT. NO LONGER. THE UNGGOY STAND UPRIGHT. BE YOU SANGHEILI, JIRALHANAE, KIG-YAR; THE TIME IS COME FOR YOU TO STAND UPRIGHT AS WELL.
MELLET: We're Krogan. Why are you talking like that? I know you're five feet high with a funny squeaky voice.
BABQUIT: KROGAN! THIS IS NOT YOUR BATTLE. LEAVE THIS SYSTEM AND GO ABOUT YOUR KROGAN BUSINESS.
MELLET: "Krogan business." Hah. Seems Krogan business is getting paid to kill Unggoy until you all get back to work.
BABQUIT: UNDER THE RULE OF GERIATRIC HYPOCRITE SAN'SHYUUM IT HAS BECOME THE CUSTOM OF TOO MANY PEOPLES TO FIGHT THE WARS OF OTHERS. DO NOT LET YOUR PEOPLE SUFFER THIS WRETCHED FATE.
MELLET: Fighting the wars of others is all we do.
BABQUIT: THEN IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO STAND UPRIGHT AS WELL.
MELLET: You talk better than Vorcha do, at least. It doesn't matter! We're here. We're landing on that planet. We're stronger and tougher than Sangheili or Jiralhanae, or anything else. Your position is more hopeless than you can have realized. Be smart.
BABQUIT: LEAVE WITH YOUR LIVES OR BE FIRST TO PERISH IN THE RISING TIDE OF GALACTIC UNGGOY REVOLUTION.
MELLET: We're not leaving.
Warlord Dardoll Mellet was head of the Mellet Clan and CEO of its Institutional Defiance mercenary company. He had only brought a small expedition with him to subdue Martolla, but this warband proved more than sufficient to secure Martolla's solitary spaceport. Deacon Babvus Babquit pored through Krogan histories in an attempt to find some weakness in his new enemy. Physically he could detect no such weakness, but he held out hope for a successful socio-psychological attack. This is the second of the three great dialogues.
BABQUIT: I HAVE STUDIED THE KROGAN.
MELLET: Yeah?
BABQUIT: ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF DEFEAT. YOU ARE LIKE US.
MELLET: I don't think so.
BABQUIT: THERE IS ONE GREAT DIFFERENCE.
MELLET: There are many more than that.
BABQUIT: EVERY DEFEAT MAKES THE UNGGOY STRONGER, SMARTER, AND ANGRIER. MY PREDECESSORS FELL AND I MAY FALL, BUT I KNOW ONE DAY WE WILL WIN. THE KROGAN LOSE, AND SIMPLY LOSE. YOU LEARN NOTHING, GAIN NOTHING, BECOME MORE DYSFUNCTIONAL AND SMALL-MINDED WITH EVERY HUMILIATION. YOUR RESENTMENTS FEED NO PRODUCTIVE ENDEAVOR.
MELLET: Little creature, do you want to make me angry?
BABQUIT: YES. ANGER WOULD BE BETTER FOR YOU. ANYTHING WOULD BE BETTER FOR YOU THAN YOUR CURRENT HOPELESS FATALISTIC SUBMISSION.
MELLET: We tried! I was there.
BABQUIT: YES. I READ THAT THERE WAS A TIME BEFORE THE GENOPHAGE AND IN THOSE DAYS KROGAN MOUNTED KAMIKAZE CHARGES WITH THE UNGGOY SPIRIT. I READ THAT THE MELLET CLAN IN PARTICULAR BROUGHT COMETS DOWN ON THE ENEMY AND WAS KNOWN FOR AN ESPECIAL ABSENCE OF MERCY. THE CITADEL COUNCIL BELIEVED THAT IT MIGHT LOSE. IT WAS AFRAID. HOW FAR YOU HAVE FALLEN. REMEMBER THAT FOR ALL THEY HAVE DONE TO THE UNGGOY, YOU ARE CASTRATED AND WE ARE NOT.
MELLET: I'll ignore that last part. You are learning wrong lessons. The Citadel Council did not interpret our brutality as a sign of strength. It did us no good.
BABQUIT: THEN WHAT SHOULD YOU HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY?
MELLET: Nothing. The brutality didn't accomplish anything, but it wasn't wrong either. We were bound to lose, and we did. You are bound to lose, and you will. Things like this never end, they just go on forever. It's fine. You've got to get over it.
BABQUIT: I CANNOT.
MELLET: You will, when you die, soon.
Deacon Babvus Babquit ordered his followers to retake Martolla's spaceport. They did not succeed, but for several days they subjected the mercenaries of the Institutional Defiance corporation to such continual threat that there seemed to be no prospect of the mercenaries' projecting power outside of the spaceport. Despite himself Warlord Dardoll Mellet was impressed at the fervor of the mutinous Unggoy and was glad when Babquit contacted him a third time. This is the last of the three great dialogues.
BABQUIT: IT IS STALEMATE. I APPEAL TO YOUR MERCENARY INSTINCT. LEAVE. MAKE YOUR MONEY ON A PLANET WITH AIR YOU CAN BREATHE.
MELLET: Premature thing to say. We've only been doing this a week. Anyway, stalemate isn't such a bad thing for a mercenary. The paychecks just keep coming.
BABQUIT: THIS CANNOT BE HOW YOU WANT TO SPEND YOUR LIFE AND THE LIVES OF YOUR PEOPLE.
MELLET: What is your plan, anyway? You don't have any ships. Don't you want to see your home again?
BABQUIT: LOVELY BALAHO IS COVERED IN LAKES OF FIRE, THOUGH IT WAS A LITTLE BETTER BEFORE THE WARSHIPS BLASTED IT.
MELLET: So, you want to hold onto Martolla. I see. Do something for me. Turn off the voice amplifier or whatever you call it. I want to talk to you normally.
BABQUIT: I suppose that's all right.
MELLET: Say that I did more than leave the system. Say that I called for the whole Mellet Clan, plus whatever other Krogan Clans we could muster, to go on warpath. Not against you, but with you against the Covenant. Would there be reciprocation?
BABQUIT: We have nothing with which to pay you.
MELLET: This wouldn't be a mercenary gig. I mean, would you stand with us, against the Citadel Council?
[Silence]
MELLET: Think about it. Why should the Citadel or High Charity win? Why shouldn't we, people who live in the Terminus Systems, win? It's our home.
BABQUIT: You have already told me that you believe we are both bound to always lose.
MELLET: Alone, yes. That's why I'm talking to you. I know there are a lot of Unggoy out there.
BABQUIT: Unggoy are five feet high, with funny squeaky voices.
MELLET: When we first talked, you thought I would be Sangheili or Jiralhanae or Kig-Yar. You still tried to appeal to me.
BABQUIT: So?
MELLET: So that's what I've been thinking about. Krogan Rebellions. Unggoy Rebellions. We can win. We can do more than die for a doomed cause. We can win. But we have to do the same thing as the enemy. No matter what else there is to say about the Citadel Council and the Covenant, they will still come at you with every type of being and body there is. It's… worked out for them.
BABQUIT: I had no expectation that my appeal would have resonance.
MELLET: I'll tell you something else. I thought you were kidding about the kamikaze charges, but those were something. Reminded me of better days. We should talk in person.
