Quoted By:
Once a certain point of cultural and scientific cynicism and sophistication is reached; the belief in “innocents” or “bystanders” belonging to a certain faction no longer exists. It is only the product of a weak, ignorant culture that believes anything else. <span class="mu-s"><span class="mu-i">There are no civilians in war</span></span>. The base below has women and children; families of the soldiers fighting abroad; these are the replacement and breeding stock of the enemy. The elderly and priesthood, if the Esaal had any, are moral support and sources of wisdom. Even pacifists or criminals belonging to the Esaal are still supporting the war effort- as the product of their labor is taxed and collected for the war effort, or even their punishments further drive the rest of the people forward to march.
Perhaps in a very primitive culture, a culture of the same race and religion as each other, perhaps there can be bystanders. Little people who are raided and forced to provide for whatever feudal lord owns their land- perhaps they are innocent. But in a mechanized, industrialized society where warfare is an economic feature of their society, a battle between races- much less two different alien species- there are no innocents or bystanders. There are no civilians here; only a support network for the enemy ships.
The irony of course is your hesitation to order the bombardment. You've already blown up a ship and a starbase; sending hundreds of men to their deaths. But suddenly you feel some kind of strange empathetic, moral compulsion to not attack the “innocent” below- but you know it isn't real. It is an animal empathy that has no place in your position, or in your society. The truth is simple. If you do not destroy and kill the Esaal civilians here- they will call for help, and it will raise the alarm level. There is no question of that. If you destroy them quickly- you can silence them before they call for help. The Esaal would do no different in your position- but it is not to punish their “hypocrisy” but pure pragmatism. But even if they accept this, that doesn't necessarily mean they are going to just gloss over this either- they'll be pissed. Hypocritical or not, your relations with the Esaal will suffer if you do this, that is for certain.
Your ship is approaching short range scanner range of the base. It's time to make your decision.
>Bomb the Base (Relations will worsen)
>Do not Bomb the Base (Alarm Level will raise)
