Dead Zone [Unfinished, can't remember idea]

Don't do it.

Look, I know what you're thinking. Only inhabited world in the system, populated by primitives who haven't even figured out interplanetary travel yet. It's tempting. It's more than tempting. Just zip over, douse the place with missiles and fire and everything else, and take what's left. It won't be a war. It won't even be a skirmish.

We've tried that.

Do you know how many ships get sent to that sector? And not just from us. The Brax, the Nodiac, the flipping Marines of Rual Beta Prime--everybody's taken a look at that little green and blue planet at one point or another and thought, "hey, this would make a fine addition to the empire". And they take a few ships--just a few, because there's no reason you'd need more than a few--and they make their speeches, and arm their men--

--and it never works.