9 Years, 5 Months, 23 Days After Eridani Landing
Empire Home World
Slowly opening his eyes [Vann] sat up in the darkness.
It was relaxing being able to enjoy actual silence after being in space, as advanced at the Imperial was she still vibrated and hummed making everything inside of her do the same. It had been like a low constant headache that had never gone away while on the ship.
It was still dark outside, [Vann] glanced at his Comm confirming that the sun would be up in only an hour or so. Standing up [Vann] quickly made his way to the closet in the massive room and pulled on one of his lightly armored workout ensembles. It was reminiscent of the ancient leather armor once worn on the battlefield but now did very little to protect a wearer in modern combat.
Exiting the room, he glanced up to see [Reece] already standing by the door, looking as if he had been standing at the ready all night.
“We’re sparring in [ten minutes] if that’s alright with you.”
“It is, any preference towards the weapon?” asked the body guard.
“What do I need to improve with?”
“Small weapons, your staff, swordsmanship and shooting are passable.”
[Vann] grunted in annoyance but nodded. The hand to hand and close combat training was what usually left him with the most bruising and pain, but then it needed to be learned.
The bodyguard spun and disappeared from view. The estate on the Home World was one of the few places he felt confident enough to leave [Vann] alone. There was also an entire platoon on patrol around the premises at all time, not counting the men that [Reece] had personally selected to patrol the estate.
Making his way down the flights of stairs to the main floor of the home [Vann] looked around at everything. Most of it had the air of disuse and artificiality. It was clean and opulent, but more like the museum that was all that remained of the first Imperial estate, back when the Empire had been only a single planet than an actual dwelling.
The house was supposed to be the home to the entire Imperial family, but the dwindling numbers over the past generation leading to only his Father holding the title, and then his death it was all his and empty.
Shaking his head [Vann] stepped into the training room, which had for his parents and the generations of leaders before them a dining room. The classical [horseshoe] shaped table had been removed. Mats and training equipment now dominated the space along with racks of weapons and equipment. The only thing absent were guns, which he practiced with in what had used to be the gardens outside on the grounds.
He had felt bad about removing them, but then they really served no purpose.
The large windows of the room were why he had moved the training equipment up from the lower sub-ground levels. It was relaxing to get his training done in the natural light of the sun. After spending so long on a ship he was looking forwards to it, feeling the sun on his face again during a sunrise.
Stretching [Vann] looked out of the windows, the first hints of sunrise were beginning to show over the horizon.
“Early morning?” asked [Charles].
Vann frowned and glanced over at him, “I thought I told you to go home, and for that matter the sun’s not even up! Why are you awake?”
[Charles] groaned and put a hand to his head, “Don’t remind me. [Reece] suggested that although the Consul isn’t charging me with anything, I might take advantage of the security your home has. Considering that I did in a drunken rage punch him out.”
[Vann] frowned, “I thought you were sober for that meeting.”
“I’m functional even drunk. An officer tested me, I was most decidedly drunk.”
“So now the rumors are I have a drunkard for an advisor. That’s great.”
[Charles] shrugged, “better than an advisor who would with a sound mind punch out the Consul.”
[Vann] opened his mouth to argue and then snapped it shut.
“I suppose, still not even the Consul would kill you for that.”
“He went on a public broadcast yesterday with a blue eye.”
“To be honest that might have actually helped him sell the proposal. The senate has never moved so quickly. I don’t know what the hell he told them in that closed session.”
“I have some ideas; you’ve learned some things about the class C’s but that was over a few weeks. He laid it all out in front of the Senate no doubt, as well as whatever happened to the 4th fleet a few years back.”
“You still think C1764 had something to do with that?”
[Charles] chuckled, and winced closing an eye. “I’m sure of it, they were only a single jump away from Earth and then come back with massive amounts of damage, all of which is marked up to a training accident?”
“You don’t think you’re giving them enough credit? You yourself saw to the destruction of their last base in that system. How could they have inflicted that much damage?”
“Humans don’t die easily, they’ll survive and fight out of nothing but spite. They’re not afraid to make sacrifices either. They tossed a tethered station at the [Singer] just to create a diversion and give their own ships, which were being destroyed with ease some measure of cover. That structure had to be one of the most complex technological and economic assets in their domain.”
“So then the 4th fleet destroyed what was left of them, now the only humans that are left are those who fled into deep space. Half a dozen other class C species have done this, none have attacked. They’re pests that simply need to be eliminated.”
“They’re a danger, one that will only grow if left unchecked. If there is one thing that their histories show it is that adversity only breads greater militarization and a will to die for the cause. These humans will in a generation be bent on a single task, the destruction of the Empire.”
“They are still so small; they might overrun a single system. They will try to hold it, fail and break.”
[Charles] reached into his back pocket and drew out a flask.
[Vann] rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything.
He took a sip of it and putting the flask back [Charles] pulled out another small device, a fried electronic of some sort. He held it up in the first rays of light that streamed in through the windows.
“Perhaps, but even so a few will survive. Then try again.”
[Charles] turned the burned up looked electronic component, “And I doubt they’ll be fighting alone for very long. Humans have a strange way of making you think like them, believe like them.”
[Vann] shook his head and going over to the rack next to [Charles] and pulled one of the dulled knives off of the rack.
[Charles] watched him as the young Emperor casually flipped the weapon around in his hand.
“I suppose that could be a threat, but what should I do instead of what has been proposed?”
“I’m not going to suggest something if you’re going to immediately reject it and never again think about it.”
“What could you possibly say that would upset me now?”
Charles glanced back down at the small device in his hand, “Plenty actually.”
[Vann] was spared responding as [Charles]’s assistant stumbled into the room carrying two mugs. She blinked and hesitated, looking as if she wanted to bolt out of the room like always with the Emperor present.
“Come on in!” said [Charles] turning to her as he waved at her.
She swallowed and quickly stepped forwards, “Your tea,” raising one of the mugs towards [Charles] and then glancing down looked at the other one she was holding.
“Would you like a cup Emperor?” she asked her voice barely audible.
“I’m fine, tea’s not exactly something to have right before you spar.”
“Of course.”
Holding the mug out [Charles] took it from her and sipped.
“Availing yourself of my hospitality I see,” said [Vann] mildly as he smelled the tea, it was one of the more expensive varieties growing only in a single valley of the home world.
“My wisdom is worth some tea. I would have raided the Emperors’ bar but it’s empty. Aren’t you supposed to have three-hundred-year-old liquors or something?”
[Vann] smiled at that.
“Got rid of all of it when I took out the table and the gardens as a child. I had an overly dramatic view of its effects. Although you seem to be bringing the childish notion that any amount of alcohol is a bad idea,” said [Vann] dryly.
[Charles] grunted and took another sip of his tea.
The doors behind them opened and [Reece] quietly moved into the room.
“Are you ready?” he asked as he took off the long jacket he usually wore and placed it on a rack as he took out a dulled knife as well.
“I am.”
[Vann] holding his knife aloft stepped onto the mats as the sun rose, [Reece] did the same and the two slowly began to circle.
One of the first lesson’s [Vann] had been taught as a child was to never attack first, in any evenly matched encounter you never attacked first, or at the very least you attacked when you had the element of surprise.
Knowing this [Reece] moved first. Stepping into the light streaming from the windows the bodyguard angled the knife he was holding, flashing the light in [Vann]’s eyes. He knew a trick was coming but still winced as the light hit.
[Reece] darted forwards, [Vann] lashed out deflecting the hand with the knife away with his free hand while moving to stab at [Reece]’s abdomen. The man casually deflected the knife and began to slowly inch his knife in towards [Vann] using brute force instead of technique.
Grunting [Vann] kicked out causing them both to stumble away from one another less they fall on top of one another and the match devolve into a game of pure luck.
Tripping one of the mat’s [Vann] fell and rolled to the side as he heard the sound of glass shattering. Wondering what had happened he paused for a half second. [Reece] for his part seemed similarly stunned, his eyes were locked on something behind [Vann].
Turning [Vann] looked over to see that one of the old windows had broken inwards, it was now littering the mat.
“What?”
A distant explosion sounded and [Reece] frowning quickly produced a small sidearm from somewhere and turning to his Comm picking it up.
“Report!” he growled.
“Down everyone down!” Shouted [Charles] as he dropped his mug and himself down to the floor, and grabbed at [Yuka] dragging her down with him as he moved behind a rack of training weapons.
The far doors of the room burst open and a group of men in armor and helmet’s streamed into the room weapons raised.
[Reece] smoothly responded, stepping in front of [Vann] a small personal shield snapping into place with a low hum. Reaching into his belt the bodyguard leveled a gun at the door, even as more men continued to pour through it.
The men seeing him let loose with their weapons focusing in on him.
[Reece] calmly aimed and fired at each man in turn, his pistol letting off a small twang with each discharge. With every precise shot another of the attackers fell.
It took [Vann] a moment to realize that the weapons they were using were kinetic based, and had almost no possibility of breaching the shield. Still they continued to fire.
[Vann] flipped the knife around and stood behind the bodyguard looking at the other door in case someone decided to enter from that direction. It was a classic strategy, distract and intimidate in one location then enter from another to complete the attack. Still, it remained closed.
“Weapons down! Put your weapons down!” shouted [Vann] from behind his bodyguard as he resisted the urge to peak out from behind the man to look at the attackers. They ignored him and continued to fire the useless weapons.
After a moment something was shouted in an alien tongue.
“What?” shouted [Charles] from where he was behind the weapons rack and on the ground.
A look of intense concentration on his face [Charles] shouted something in an alien language as well.
[Vann] heard a small abeyance in the rate of fire, before with a shout it continued again.
[Charles] yelped and glancing over at him [Vann] saw that several of the men were now shooting at him and his servant. The man was practically on top of her, covering the younger class B with his own body.
[Yuka] suddenly cried out in pain, and [Vann] saw a small splash of greenish blood on the mats next to the two.
[Charles] stared at her for a half moment, before scrambling unconcerned with the attackers moved to press his hands to the woman’s abdomen trying to staunch the flow of blood.
The men attacking continued to press for only a moment, but when with a particularly well placed shot [Reece] hit the leader’s head causing it to burn and melt away slightly, the rest quickly broke and ran.
One man hesitated and glancing back at [Charles] threw his weapon to the side. He shouted something but [Charles] ignored him, his attention on [Yuka].
The sound of the general alarm went off and [Vann] winced as he heard the sound of the other guards in the palace storming out after the men. The loud twangs from the larger weapons sounded for at most a second. They were all now most certainly dead.
“[Reece] we need,” began [Vann] even as the bodyguard raised his gun and fired again hitting the man who had surrender in the head dropping him.
“Him alive,” finished [Vann] lamely as the now headless man slumped forwards.
Looking around Reece spared a glance back at him.
“My job is not to leave people who have threatened you alive.”
[Vann] looked at the bodyguard for a moment, “No I suppose not.”
“Medical kit, now!” demanded [Charles] from where he was on the floor.
[Reece] glanced over at him, “I cannot move without disabling this shield, and the Emperor is not risking his life for a class B, when I receive an all clear I will move,” said [Reece].
[Charles] looked at [Vann] and [Reece] for a moment and then down at [Yuka].
The woman was gasping, and her eyes were wide with fear.
Unbidden the image of a woman who had practically melted in front of him flashed through [Charles]’s mind. Slowly moving his wyes away from her face, [Charles] winced as he spotted exactly where she had been hit. A gut shot, and deep one at that was something that even with energy weapons was dangerous, and he knew from the skirmishes for the Martian base that with human weapons much the same fate was expected.
“Damn it.”
Scrambling to his feet, stumbling and falling onto the mat once [Charles] moved across the room and towards the last man who had tried to surrender. Not looking at his ruined helmet [Charles] quickly began patting the body down, searching through the pockets of the armor.
“What are you doing?” asked [Reece] as he continued to look around for any further threats.
“Saving her,” growled [Charles].
Finding what he was looking for [Charles] quickly moved back to [Yuka] and pulling the protected needle case free from the alien injector plunged it into the woman’s side right next to the wound.
[Yuka] gasped and let out a whimper, before she went limp.
[Charles] grabbed a towel from the training weapon’s rack and pressed it to her side, trying to stop the flow of blood.
“All clear,” said someone over the Comm on [Reece]’s wrist.
“Do another sweep,” growled [Reece].
Slowly the bodyguard lowered his weapon and the shield dropped away. He winced and fell to one knee, quickly reaching up he pulled open his shirt and dropped the shield away from himself and onto the mat where it quickly began to melt the material causing it to smoke slightly.
“You alright?” asked [Vann].
“Those experimental units still produce a lot of heat.”
[Vann] looked down at the man and winced at the large burns now on his chest.
“If I tell you to go get medical attention will you listen?” asked [Vann].
“No.”
“Make sure you get it before the end of the day.”
“I will.”
Turning around to [Charles] [Vann] slowly walked over to him and reaching down picked up the small injector.
“What is this?”
[Charles] looked up, “That would be a human medical invention. Nano-machines they called them, small robots that when injected aide the body in recovery. They won’t save a man from what would otherwise be certain death, but can pull someone on the precipice of never returning back from it.”
“Then these attackers?”
“Are human,” said [Charles].
Standing up [Reece] walked over to the attackers and reaching down pulled a patch off of the man’s arm who had tried to surrender.
Looking at it for a moment he examined the fabric and then slowly walked back to [Charles].
“Can you read this?”
[Charles] looked at it for a moment, “It says [Tranquility Base], the human’s name was Mack.”
[Reece] was silent for a moment, “You mean to tell me that a C species managed to not only gain access to the home world, but to the palace itself?”
[Charles] slowly shook his head.
“This was unorganized, and sloppy for a Human attack.”
The door’s closer to the group slammed open, both [Vann] and [Reece] raised their weapons.
“Emperor!” shouted the Commander.
“Get her medical attention, and clean up the rest of the bodies. Seal them in the medical wing, do not allow anyone but myself access to them. Do not report this to anyone else. Understand?” asked [Vann].
The man blinked, “Yes Emperor.”
“Move!” shouted [Vann].
Several soldiers quickly stepped forwards and grabbed [Yuka] and producing a stretcher picked her up and moved her away.
“Emperor,”
“Out!” shouted [Vann].
The Commander’s eyes flicked to [Reece]. The Bodyguard subtly nodded. The Commander bowed his head and quickly exited.
Slowly getting to his feet [Charles] looked at [Vann].
“Explain,” demanded [Vann].
“If Humans had actually made it here, you would be dead. In fact, you should be dead,” [Charles] gestured at the broken glass.
“A human long distance shooter can attack from kilometers away with precision. Instead the glass was only shattered.”
Walking over to the body of the C1764, [Charles] stooped down and pulled at the man’s uniform.
He grimaced and took a step back.
“Neither do they allow emaciated and injured men like this to carry out attacks.”
[Vann] looked at the C1764’s chest, it was covered in hundreds of small and half healed cuts, his ribs, with an extra set were visible through his pale skin.
“You are suggesting?” asked [Vann].
“I don’t know.” Muttered [Charles].
“The class C’s have spread to be a more pervasive threat, with these new policies in place they attempted to assassinate the Emperor, and end his lineage. I think the intent is plain,” growled Reece.
[Charles] shook his head again, “No, I’m telling you if this were truly a human attack we would all be dead. Shield or no shield.”
[Reece] inclined his head, “I don’t much care at the moment. Someone managed to get past every layer of security I set up, and has been set up over the past [100] years. To do that should be impossible. I need to find the breech.”
“You need medical attention,” said [Vann].
Another louder explosion sounded from far away and everyone glanced up, a small personal transport, breaking every regulation quickly shot up into the air in the distance, far from the grounds.
Rocketing upwards into the sky it twisted, and moved as if someone were fighting to control it.
The three of them watched as it continued to twist and move in the air. It continued to quickly rise and move away from the Palace grounds.
“I’m going to stay where I am for the moment,” growled [Reece].
[Vann] slowly nodded.
The Canada
“The Imperial ship moved off?” asked Stagg.
“The Patrol vessel has retreated away from the planet to the outer reaches of the system,” said Arik.
“Inform me if they jump away, if they do than all we need to do is destroy the beacon and disable our own tachyon drives to cut this system off,” said Derrick.
“I will.”
“So any bright ideas about how to play this?” asked Derrick as he turned to look at the image on the alien planet on the screen. The planet could have been Earth, except the landmass was only about 60% of the planet’s surface and the atmosphere had a slight haze to it. The pollution was thick enough now that it was visible from space.
Like Earth’s atmosphere had been right up until people started abandoning her for mars and the restoration projects had begun in earnest.
It was home to species C1803 the next target for extermination by the Empire.
“We never made protocols for this, first contact under duress and with a need for expediency,” muttered Stagg.
“I would suggest we go in with as much flash as possible, an impressive display of power and might at least convince them that we could strong arm them into cooperating.” Said Arik.
“We only need them for additional electromagnetic modules, even the smallest faction in this war on their world could manufacture them. They don’t even have to take our warning about the Empire seriously, hell I’m betting they won’t,” said Derrick.
“I’m not very confident either. We will at least feel better having done so, and no doubt when the Empire does attack they will fight back regardless.”
“Unless they use the same weapon they used on Earth.”
“Considering most of the other ‘exterminations’,” Arik hesitated at the description for only a moment, “are a matter of public record and have been carried out by orbital bombardment and ground troops I would hazard a guess that the Earth genocide was atypical. We had advanced faster than they predicted and our development of FTL space travel was not something they could abide. So our fate needed to be definite and swift.”
“That doesn’t mean they couldn’t use the same weapon again,” said Stagg.
“We’ll have to fight to make sure any missiles or bombs they have don’t get a chance to enter the atmosphere.”
Stagg groaned and put her head in her hands.
“There are so many things wrong with even considering this. We’re going to be disrupting their entire culture at the very least, and perhaps be the final spark in a global war of, how many sides is it?” asked Stagg looking over at Arik’s console.
“Two main sides, the Hern and Pon. The Hern are larger but more divided internally, almost to a degree that their largest factions the Hern purists and traditionalists will most likely go to war with one another if they do manage to defeat the Pon.”
“And this is a religious war?” asked Stagg.
“As much as a global war can be, religious reasons are being touted as the banners for each side, but economic and government visions are intermixed. The religion is the excuse to fight, not the reason for most I would suspect. It’s like any war on Earth, you can point to any one event in retrospect as the trigger. Which in this case was a disruption at a religious holiday that killed both Hern and Pon, each side blamed another, no actual attacker was identified and both sides with their respective governments went to war.”
“And the religious differences are?” asked Stagg.
“The Hern and Pon share a similar religious root, and the main point of contention is the gender of their creator. Hern is the main religious root, which asserts the creator is female. The Pon which splintered away some 1500 years ago asserts that the creator is genderless and without form, as described by a religious leader Ikil whom both sides revere as a teacher. This is only the larger difference and the Hern and Pon religions are only the predominant ones on the planet. There are many which bear similarities to spirituality and the Greek pantheon of gods from Earth.”
“So their religion is just as confusing as ours,” deadpanned Derrick as he tried to understand it all.
“A little more simplistic actually, there are not many branches beyond the Hern and the Pon within the main religious root.”
“Based on the data from their networks can you determine where the best place to host an impartial meeting would be?” asked Stagg.
“The current political tension is high; an offensive was just carried out by the Pon against the Hern whereby they claimed several islands in a forward offensive. Both sides are what would be an equivalent of Defcon 2 level readiness. I do feel as if I should mention that their nuclear weapons as crude as they are still pose a threat to us.”
“They don’t have high orbital capable missiles do they?” asked Stagg.
“I’ve hacked into the military networks of both sides, and I do have to say they are in the transitory phase from paper medium to electronics so I might not have access to everything but no. In any case they do not have anything which we would not be able to easily detect.”
“What about a shuttle?”
“One of our shuttles would be able to easily disable any missiles aimed at it either through an automatic kinetic strike or messing with the primitive targeting software.”
Stagg moved up from her seat letting herself aimlessly float in the center of the bridge for a moment as she thought.
“What does their popular culture say aliens will do when they visit? I want to know what the range of reactions might be.”
“Much like with Earth the advancement of technology and forays into primitive satellite technology has spawned a public interest in space travel. The most common behavior is like Earth a direct alien invasion. Other more nuanced tales have aliens coming to their planet as benevolent caretakers to aid and remedy all ills while playing politics. A few have the aliens coming to resolve the religious conflict by proclaiming one side is right, and a vast majority of the lower brow literature has aliens coming to the planet for sex.”
Stagg snorted at that, “Why am I not surprised. Can you make an educated guess to what might happen with our request for aide and our warning?”
Arik was silent for several moments.
“It was one of the first things I did. Neither faction will trust us, each will accuse us of allying with the other, and their internal conflict will escalate. When the Empire does invade, if they do head our warning they will still not be able to fight back on much of anything but ground warfare. Their ICBM’s might be able to reach targets in lower orbit, but without lowered shields they would be ineffective.”
Arik displayed an image on the main screen, something that looked like it was from one of the first attempts at science fiction television on Earth, save for the fact that the aliens had the better makeup and the creatures resembling humans looked shoddy.
“My recommendation would be to explain the situation, and then demand and threaten for the magnetic components we need to place in orbit to extend the effect of our negation field.”
“I’m not going to bomb them just for refusing us!”
“Would you not trade a city to save an entire planet?” asked Arik her voice low.
“We’re not even sure we would be able to defend them with the magnetic extension components!”
“Then they will die only a few months earlier.”
Stagg shook her head.
“Can I offer a suggestion?” asked Derrick.
“Please.”
“We demonstrate our weapons in the ocean, let them see that we can produce multiple kinetic strikes in quick succession with explosive equivalents to nuclear weapons they currently have. Explain we could conquer them in an instant with only our one ship, but say we need them to fight in the future.”
“That would work I think, if we demonstrate it casually. It would work since I was considering where we might be able to meet with government representatives. There is a small nation in the middle of the ocean between the two sides which has remained independent and played host to negotiations between the two. The island is dominated in religion by the pseudo-Greek pantheon god believers, whom espouse nonviolence. It will be the most neutral ground to meet so far as I can tell.”
Stagg drifted back down into her seat and hooking her feet into the appropriate handles looked up at the small camera that served as the bridge recorder.
“You know for future reference; I have no good idea about how to handle this. I cannot however stand idly by and let billions more be killed when we have the opportunity and a need to warn them.”
She paused.
“Arik, do you have a first contact package ready?”
“I do; do you want me to transmit it with the request for a meeting in [12 hours]? That is the fastest the representatives will be able to make it to the coordinates with the modes of transport available to them.”
Stagg paused and considered what she was about to do again. The alien’s were operating at an equivalent to humanities 1980’s level of technology. They knew about computers and thought about aliens. They had not reached out towards the stars yet, and if the Empire had their way they never would.
They were violent and divided, fighting pointless wars and arguing ideology. Stagg smiled slightly, it was a familiar hypocrisy at least.
“Do it.”
“Beginning transmission, this will have to be done in real-time. I am at the moment hijacking every other radio and television broadcast system. There will no doubt be a slight panic.”
“I really hope they don’t decide to nuke themselves now,” muttered Derrick.