There was no way to keep Contact secret from the Betelgeuse populations. Too many birds had seen the scout arrive, and they spread videos of it throughout their version of the nets long before their government could even think about classifying it. It turned out a lot like Peloran Contact with us in the end. Landing in a public square and walking out to a crowd of birds wanting to welcome their first proof that they were not alone in the universe. It was surreal.
The show and movies concentrated on Dixie’s ragtag group of students and teachers using underhanded tactics and college student humor to fight the drug cartels. They did not highlight the Petroplex’s industrial support and mass production of drones, though there were the weekly shipments of prototype Taurian Arms weapons. Many people watched just to see Texas Tech students hooting and hollering as they tried out new and interesting ways of blowing stuff up.
Another great consequence of the Great War of the early Twentieth Century was the fall of the Russian Empire. Like most monarchies, the Czars of Russia had stumbled along with varying degrees of lustrous and lackluster performance for centuries. The early Twentieth Century found them at a lackluster point, losing most of the navy and tens of thousands of Russian soldiers to Japan. Broken and humbled, Russia was a prime target for revolution.
After the first exchange of weapons fire in Betelgeuse, our scout came back around and approached slowly. The scout gave the local birds time to study her as the First Contact Package began to flood space with electronic emissions. The Thunderbirds responded with their own package, and we spent the next several hours trying to learn how to talk to each other. The first words out of the birds’ beaks were something like “oops, our bad.” Just a bit more formal you know.
Following the anti-drug cartel action at the Taurian Arms manufacturing plant, Dixie secured new allies in her mission to protect the Texas Tech campuses scattered throughout western and central Texas. The Odessa-Midland Petroplex had been a major center of power generation, industry, and trade before the Second Great Depression and the Drug Wars. It still had power in its bones, and those bones answered when Dixie asked for support. The cartels did not enjoy it.
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