“Commander Tl’lack, you must have a very good reason for losing Rek’na Prime.” Admiral Tl’rek tapped a claw on the reports. “A very good explanation, indeed, for the loss of 2 battalions of our elite Rejan soldiers.”
Tl’lack took a deep breath and focused on keeping his crest from displaying his nerves. “Yes sir. It’s… it’s their females, sir.”
The tapping stopped. “Their what, Commander?”
“Their females, sir. They are… causing difficulties with the troops.”
“How can mere females be causing issues? What are the troops doing anywhere near their females in the first place? There shouldn’t be a battle anywhere near any of their civilian centers yet! If you can’t keep your troops i-“
Tl’lack interrupted the Admiral, a breach of protocol that would result in his death in normal times. “They’re soldiers, sir!”
Tl’rek froze. His bony eyelids clicked as he blinked, then blinked again. He put both paws on the desk, and said slowly “Say that again, Commander? I could have sworn you just said that the females are soldiers.”
“They are, sir. They don’t seem to make up more than a fraction of their forces, but it’s enough to disrupt our attacks.”
“How could humans be so reckless to risk their mates like that?
Tl’lack shuffled his notes for a moment, looking for the right one. “There seem to be two different factors in play. The first is their physiology. According to the researchers, unlike every other known species in the galaxy, human females are very similar to human males. Their males are stronger and faster, of course, but their females very nearly match them! The humans consider these physical differences to be quite large, but in comparison to the differences in other speices, their sexes seem to be almost identical. The other factor is their strange views of what they call “equality.” They seem to think that everyone is more or less equal somehow, even when they obviously aren’t. This means that, outside of things that require lots of physical strength, females are treated more or less the same as males. And when a female can prove that she can compare with males, well, we end up in our current situation, sir.”
“This is impossible! Unprecedented!”
“It… gets worse, sir.”
“WORSE? HOW CAN IT POSSIBLY GET WORSE??”
“The humans… well, they seem to have figured out our instinctive… problems with attacking females, so.”
The blood drained out of Tl’rek’s face. “Oh no…” he whispered in horror. “Don’t tell me they-“
“They have, sir. Intelligence informs me that they are currently working on how to recruit more females for the front lines without compromising their forces. We think they’re accelerating their power armor program, as well as some body modifications. Current estimates place them at having at least half their forces be female before the year is out. Even if we had the resources to do neural reconditioning on our troops-“
“We couldn’t do it in time,” the Admiral finished. “We’re doomed. Defeated by mere females.”
“Human females.”