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8 comments
If they wanted to bully Rivet City into joining, they would just have arrived with most of their army (even if their numbers were few at the time) and intimidated them into becoming part of the Terran Peace.
But then, it wouldn't be "Terran Peace" anymore. It would be more like a "Terran Dictatorship".
When Truman asks for proof of the things the Commander is saying, the Commander replies: "You'll have more than enough evidence when our troops start teleporting in." Later on he goes to say how he's not talking about an invasion, but a mutually beneficial cooperation. Still, I think there's a subtle warning in that quote.
That's how I see TSC's expansion. They don't invade, they come with promises of all the benefits of joining them, but they never forget to let anyone know about their military strength. So even if others prefer their independence over those benefits, that fear of the TSC makes them decide to join after all. Even if ideally they'd still want to remain on their own.
The TSC doesn't commence a tactical invasion, they never sign a declaration of war. Therefore, an ultimatum was never dispatched. The citizens of Rivet City joined the Terran Peace willingly, I believe the term you were searching for was "referendum." It was a poltical decesion that was made by the ruling government of Rivet City, additionally. Starship Command seemed to be well received by the population. So, that excludes any intimidation possibilities.
The soldiers that arrived with the Supreme Commander were far too few in number to be considered a legitimate threat by anyone, they were in no way compromising the saftey of the city, or it's existing population. It is of my opinion, that the security force that was funded by the settlement was more than capable of handling eight armed guest. As for the soldiers, again. They were mearly providing armed escort for the faction's leader, the officers and diplomats that were also sent along. Personally, I'd be surprised if a leader of a super power didn't have some kind of security detail with him/her on diplomatic missions.
We don't know yet - we will I guess :-)