Prompt 3 Response

“We’ve detected the use of weapons of mass destruction, sir.”

“How many times is that?”

“At least the third noted instance, sir.”

“Run through them for me, would you?”

“Yes sir.  Let’s see, first was the use of a chemical weapon by an aggressor against a defending force.  Second, the use of two nuclear warheads, fairly low yield.  Finally, and most recently, the use of chemical weapons against rebelling forces during a civil war.”

“Well that’s it then.  Prepare to invoke the Wolfram Protocol.  Third strike and they’re out, to use their metaphor.”

“Sir, if I may, there has been some debate that the use of the nuclear weapons may have actually saved tens of thousands of more lives than they cost.”

“Noted.  However, we can’t take a utilitarian view of these things, and you know it.  Once they’ve unleashed that beast, there’s no putting it back in its cage.  Just look at the way it’s affected the last half century.”

“Yes, sir, of course you’re right, but can’t we do something less drastic?  Perhaps if we put in an appearance—“

“And what good would that do?  You’ve seen their cultural output.  There’s every likelihood they’d turn their weapons on us.”

“Yes sir, but with their primitive technology—“

“Enough arguing, Ensign.  The Treaty of Magrathea is clear.  Unchecked aggression cannot be allowed to expand beyond the confines of the planet’s surface.  If they are willing to use such weapons on themselves, they’ll have no qualms about unleashing them on others.  They were given nearly a century to reign themselves in, and multiple chances.  According to the logs, the Protocol was almost unleashed 30 of their cycles ago, when they planned to weaponize space with these things.  But they managed to agree to keep them terrestrially based.  That was the only reason they were allowed to go on this long.

“They have failed to check themselves and so it is our responsibility to do it for them.  It’s the reason we were stationed here.  Now, prepare the Protocol!”

“Yes sir.”  The ensign straightened up and saluted before turning to a nearby panel.  “There appears to be a suitably large asteroid in the belt out between the fourth and fifth planets of this system.  We’ll begin altering its trajectory in towards their orbit.”

The captain nodded.  “Any chance they’ll be able to avoid it?”

The ensign shook his head.  “No sir.  They may not even detect it until it’s too late.  They haven’t invested the resources into planetary defense.  I’m sure they’ll spot it.  But even if they were to detect it as soon as we’ve completed the shift, they lack the technology to do anything about it, their cultural output notwithstanding.  Ironically, the best data we have indicates they’ll probably launch their nuclear weapons at it.  But the asteroid we’re targeting will be too large.”

“Well then,” the captain said, “the only thing for us to do is to make sure that any weapons they do launch either hit the asteroid or some other body within this system.”

“Yes, sir.  By my calculations, the asteroid will hit in this time, next cycle.  It will be an extinction level event.”

“Very well, Ensign.  See to it.  We’ll stick around long enough to make sure everything goes according to plan, then request a new assignment.”

“Yes sir.”