Prime Directive

[Terran Dominion Empire]

I had colonized a world eight years ago. On that planet I found a new metal that seemed impervious to energy, plasma, and projectile weaponry. I was going to call it Alpha armor. We were able to get enough resources to build a ship. But as we dug deeper and an alien race made contact with us. Their life signs were not detected and are still not detected by the life signs detectors. Their body releases a liquid that makes their life signs undetectable. They are an insectoid species that has four legs, two wings, one head, and two arms. The females are teal colored while the males are greened color. The problem is that they are at the iron age of technology and live underground. They have been watching my people since we landed. They believed that we were gods and made a religion around us. Now we told them that we were not gods but we are part of their culture. Prime Directive states that we should not interfere with pre-warp civilizations but this probably is not written up in Prime Directive so some advice would be appreciated.

[Armedes]

You are indeed in a sticky situation. Any attempt to interfere in their psychological processes (such as distancing from their religion) will have severe consequences. Since that world is theirs and you have little to no claim on it, I'd suggest you scrap the ship(s) with the new material and leave it for them. Further, I'd suggest you go along with them (claiming you are indeed gods) and then leave, saying that you shall return when they elevate themselves to the level of the gods.

If asked for elaboration, state that the gods do not kill and do not oppress each-other or lesser beings in anger. Of course, your words may be distorted, so scribe (in their language) on the new material your statement and put this "tablet" in a very conspicous place (center of their capital) and leave them to their own development. This material, if it is as good as you say, will prove utterly resistant to any ways of changing your "commandment" for a while to come.

Of course, I can not be considered expert, as the indigenous peoples we encountered when we first landed on our home planet were absorbed into our society and are now considered a permanent part (equal, of course) of our culture. However, in our defense, we had no way to leave (at the time) and they were highly intelligent and extremely curious. Also they were impossible to keep out of our encampments with anything other than lethal force (as they lacked rigid skeletal structures like cartilage and bone).


Or you could just declare them non-sapient and usurp their world and use them as slaves, genetically ensuring their brain size lowers with each successive generation until they're just drones.

That would be mean, though.

[Terran Dominion Empire]

Well thanks for the advice. I will make 7 tablets and inscribe them on the raw material. It will say things like create new technologies, live in peace, thou shalt not kill, don’t oppress each-other, no slavery, and gain knowledge safely. We finally found a way to detect them with the life signs detector. Their entire race lives on the one island. There are 200,000 of them. So what I will do is leave the 7 tablets and that island. Go to an island on the other side of the planet get so more of the material. At least enough to try and artificially create it. Then leave. I will put phase cloak weaponry platforms to keep the planet safe from any warp capable species from disturbing them. Once they reach a certain level of technology I will make contact with them. As for the metal I have enough for 1 ship and I will build it with the best technology at my disposal.