Trinity

The Overmind is dead. Now each species must develop all new weapons of war to ensure its survival. Rising from the-...

Vaikom rolled his eyes as he went over the intercepted Dominion transmission. He had difficulty understanding the concept of propaganda, but from what he'd picked up from his stay on Summeria V, it was not only a human thing, but a fraudulent and melodramatic one at that. If it wasn't for the honesty of the Alliance man before him, the kalathi might have assumed it was the natural state of existence for the terrans.

"There's more to it of course," the diplomat pointed out, taking back the device he'd lent Vaikom. "But well...you get the picture."

"I do. And it's an extremely narrow one."

"You don't mean that."

"No. I don't."

Vaikom turned away from the terran, currently in the midst of muttering something about an emperor...whatever that was. He supposed he would have to learn eventually, just as he would about every other species onboard the diplomatic space station the Alliance was in the midst of setting up. Still, the kalathi were nothing if not adaptable. Mere centuries after being decimated by the same race who was thankfully receiving what had long been coming to them by some kind of...bug species right now, they had recieved official recognition by the terran body and had sent Vaikom to learn about the other races of the galaxy. Apparently being burnt alive by giant walkers counted as "cultural contamination" and allowing a low technology species into diplomacy was acceptable, even if they had no means of getting there theirselves.

"And mister emperor once again proves himself to be a shining beacon of humanity..." the diplomat murmured from across the table. "Big surprise."

"That's...sarcasm, is it?"

"Huh? Oh, sure."

Vaikom shook his head; a sign of understanding (though the human might interpret it as meaning the opposite for some reason). The man named...well, all terran names sounded the same, so maybe it didn't matter had been more patient with him than most. Certainly more than the elder races who were insisting on running everything from the outset, or the tagal, whose idea of a good time was apparently beating the living nightlights out of each other. Or the kaldorei, or the murloks, or the...

"You know, there's one thing I don't understand," Vaikom burst out.

The human glanced back at the kalathi, diverting his gaze from a space vampire. "What's that?"

"That text you mentioned earlier...the 'three races' that were mentioned. Why only three?"

The terran shrugged, a sign of indifference as the kalathi recalled. "Simple really. Dominion only knows about the protoss and zerg. Add humanity to that and that makes three."

"Yes, but surely it must have crossed their minds that there are other sapients in the galaxy," Vaikom pointed out. He gestured around the room, careful to not let his arm linger on any tagal for too long. "And it's not just your...Dominion either. I've heard some fellow Alliance diplomats referring to the trinity of species back in the Koprulu Sector. It's like...like we don't exist."

The man sighed, while Vaikom remained silent. He wasn't sure what sighing meant, nor why it even existed in the scope of terran interaction either. Sure, learning the language was easy enough, especially since it wasn't a language based on telepathy like those monsters that had decimated Kalath. But all this body language...ugh, it was like a kaldorei mating ritual.

"Listen, I could go on about how three is like a lucky number to humanity..." the Alliance man began. "But...well, I think we have a pre-conception with the big things, you know? It's been less than a year since first contact was made with the zerg and protoss. I think there's many in our species that are hoping that there aren't any more species out there. And even if the truth's right before them, they'll ignore it anyway. All people will ever see are, as it's been dubbed, the 'big three.' Terrans, zerg and protoss."

Vaikom fell silent, not sure how to respond. He hadn't come here for fame. He'd come here because he was one of only a few kalathi that believed the stars could offer something better than genocidal aliens. Yet with those same aliens now part of some unofficial trinity of 'big species' or something like that...well, it hurt somehow. He didn't expect any great recognition for himself or his kind. The kalathi were probably the most primitive species on this station (as the elder races so often pointed out). But to be brushed aside like they didn't exist...that had happened centuries ago and the feeling was no less pleasant now.

Vaikom sighed, mimicking the human.

As weary frustration rushed through the kalathi, he at least knew what the motion meant.

A/N

If it comes to venting my spleen, I find oneshots a far more constructive way of doing so than starting a whine on forums. Indeed, I wouldn't say I've vented it with this either. Still, BlizzCon 2010 further reinforced what I felt when I came across the old summary of Brood War; despite the galaxy being full of sapient species, apparently "croweded" according to Metzen, it's once again been confirmed that the chances of the terran-zerg-protoss trinity being broken are somewhere between slim and nil. In a gameplay sense, that works fine. In a lore one...well, considering that hints at various aliens have been given since day 1 (or before, considering the early space vampire concept for StarCraft), it irks me a bit as to how little info we have on them.

Anyway, that's just me. Least I saved some forums some time. ;)