Solaris

In the distant future, humanity clawed it's way to the stars in an ever growing desire for power and success. However, try as they might, that lofty goal always seemed out of reach. Clashes of ideals, interpersonal conflicts, politics, corporate corruption; it was always something that kept pushing the goalposts back. Humanity spread out to the other planets of the sun, but could not muster will to leave the solar system, for traveling faster than light had remained a fantasy. The excitement and wonder of space travel waned, becoming yet another ocean to get across.   That is, until the stars to came to them. The scientists at the time ruled that alien intelligence was a possibility, but still, the revelation that they were not alone shook humanity to it's foundation... And these aliens freely promised wealth, knowledge, and technology. An offer that seemed to be too good to be true. However, such gifts would have disrupted the finely crafted oligopolies and industries that were centuries in the making, and these "peaceful traders" were turned away with their beloved leader dead. The blame was put on radical xenophobes, but the masses knew the corporate technocracy was really behind the matter. Centuries of resentment sparked into rebellion, that soon turned into the wildfire of civil war.   Ten years later, the aliens returned with an armada, and were thirsty for the blood of those that murdered their lord. It seemed the end was nigh for the corporate regime... until the aliens discovered the real killers; the rebels. Surely even the greediest of CEO's would have understood that inviting war with an advanced alien civilization would damage them more than any trade agreement they could facilitate, but by the time this unpopular truth was seriously considered, the battle lines have been already drawn.   The civil war with a death toll of a billion that left Sol in turmoil was revealed to have been waged on false pretenses, and now the instigators of all of this inadvertently invoked the wrath of humanities would-be conquerors. Mankind was left with a cruel choice: Fight a war where defeat is guaranteed, or willingly surrender to their new masters.   But alas, the true tragedy of the circumstance was that the aliens really had benevolent intentions... that peaceful trader was a lord incognito; acting to contrast the imperial nature of their species, and their unceremonious death the instant they "stepped down" to another species unfortunately for mankind, left their peers unconvinced of their methods.