by Jay Allan
The Hegemony had begun centuries before, emerging early from the ruins of the great empire that had, for so many millennia, ruled all mankind. Many years had passed before it had grown strong and taken its rightful place ruling the battered and damaged survivors. The disasters that had ended the original empire’s reign had come close to snuffing out the entire human race, but people had proven to be surprisingly resilient, and as the Hegemony grew, it discovered more and more pockets of survivors. It absorbed them all, taking its people into its rigidly structured system. It drew from the scattered population pools the few whose genetics were strong, and utilized the rest in whatever capacity their limited abilities allowed.
The Hegemony’s founders had decreed but one commandment, a single tenet to be held highest and most revered, above all others…that the very best of mankind’s survivors should rule over the others, protecting them from their baser instincts and leading the young polity forward to fulfill its goal of ensuring humanity’s survival and its prosperity.
Akella had risen to such unimaginable power at a young age through the simple act of scoring the highest-ever results on the genetics rating test, an achievement that had, in an instant, made her the supreme ruler of the Hegemony. There had been no violence, no election, no dirty political deals made in shadowy corners. She simply became Number One, the unquestioned leader of the massive state, and her predecessor accepted his new role as Number Four, yielding without rancor not only to her, but the two others who advanced beyond his stature.
She was, in terms of Hegemonic law, the most perfect human being alive anywhere…and, as such, the natural ruler of all the others. At least until someone bested her score, proved themselves a more ideal human specimen. It was a seemingly inevitable development she had long expected, but one that had, as yet, failed to materialize.
She was fatigued as she stood on the raised dais, looking out over the multitudes gathered below. It had been less than two days since she had given birth, to a child born of her own genes and those of Thantor, known otherwise as Number Two. He had scored higher on the genetic testing than any human being alive, save only for Akella herself.
The pairing had not been one born of emotion, nor even of passion. Indeed, such primitive mating rituals were the ways of the lesser humans, the Inferiors. She did not particularly like Thantor, nor did she enjoy his company. In truth, she considered him boorish and he grated on her when she was forced to spend too much time with him. But there was no doubt about his intellect, nor his physical attributes. He was strong, healthy, as much an image of the perfect human male as existed anywhere known to her. He was extremely attractive, as well, and she had been disappointed to find his skills in the relevant area had not been a match for his striking appearance and physique.
Emotions were not a factor, however, in breeding among the Masters. Nor, for that matter, was sexual gratification. She could have any lover she wanted for such routine purposes. Indeed, she had several in her household at the moment. But her duty to produce the next generation of Masters was clear…and at her level there could be no thought of anything but pursuing the very strongest pairings. Genetic matches were not immune to the effects of fortune and randomness, but there was every reason to imagine that the newborn now sleeping in her villa would one day be of the highest level of leaders in the Hegemony…and, perhaps even a future Number One.
With only a single child, Akella was well behind a normal schedule for a female Master of her age. Masters were expected to produce significant numbers of children, and for her to have her first at forty-two verged on scandalous. But her position, so easily attained, had proven to be a demanding one, allowing little time for duties outside those of running the state. Fortunately, her constitution and nearly perfect genetics put her on a timetable apart from most other humans, even most Masters. She would be capable of bearing children for another twenty years, and perhaps longer. That gave her enough time to have the eight that were expected of her…at least if the looming war could be concluded in a reasonable time.
That was a concern, however. Though she expressed the expected confidence in public discourse, she was nervous about this new enemy. She didn’t doubt that the Hegemony would prevail, but she was concerned that the war would prove to be longer and costlier than any of her colleagues believed. She had watched the video from the battles, analyzed the tactics and conduct of the Rim dwellers in combat. Almost all of them were inferiors, but they were brave and capable fighters, and they appeared to be extremely independent in nature. She had tried to analyze their conduct, to extrapolate how they would behave when they were defending their own worlds. Her conclusions were not reassuring, at least not in terms of a speedy end to the conflict.
Akella pulled herself from her thoughts, focusing again on the podium, and on the masses gathered in the great hall. Keretes was still speaking. That was hardly a surprise. He was among the very highest in the Hegemony, Number Six by ranking, and he specialized in oratory and language. He was among the few of her peers Akella really liked, and she counted him among her small circle of true friends…but he had never known when to shut the hell up. Given any kind of a forum, he always droned on, almost endlessly…as he was doing now.
Akella was vastly different in temperament from her friend, and when Keretes finally introduced her, she had a very few words to say. Then she planned to make good her escape from the stage and from the public displays she despised even as she understood they were sometimes necessary.
“And now, I am pleased to step aside and bring our esteemed Number One and sacred leader to the microphone.” Keretes turned and looked back at her, bowing his head slightly as he did. “Highest…all await your words and wisdom.”
She sighed softly, keeping it as quiet as she could as she suppressed the urge to shake her head. There was virtually no place she would not have rather been, but in so many years as her people’s leader, she had learned to accept the tasks duty pushed on her.
Even the ones she despised.
“As all of you now know, we have encountered another group of humans who survived the Great Death. Indeed, it appears the area of space known in imperial times as the Rim, contains by far the largest and most diverse population we have ever encountered. Though our intelligence collection and scouting operations have barely begun, there is cause to believe that the combined population of the Rim worlds is vast, perhaps even on par with that of the Hegemony itself.” She paused. She knew those last words would annoy some of her colleagues on the Council. The Hegemony had been founded on the premise of honesty and rigid adherence to facts, yet with each passing year she had seen pride and corruption find its way even into the highest levels of the government. As she had watched, she saw behavior in the other High Masters more worthy of the politicians of the old empire, whose connivance and blind pursuit of their own greed had brought the Great Death upon humankind. She had said only what she believed…but she also enjoyed poking at those whose pompous nature made it difficult to hear such words.
“That is, of course, of no matter. Our sacred purpose is clear, to bring enlightened rule to all humanity, wherever it remains in the galaxy…and to seek out ever more advanced genetic lines, to continue the evolution of mankind. Though pain and loss and strife no doubt lie before us in the conflict to come, we should rejoice at this discovery, embrace with gratitude the news that so many others survived the Great Death, and look to a future where an enlarged Hegemony spans across thousands of light years of the galaxy, and hundreds of billions of human beings strive together to push boldly into the future.”
Her discipline slammed into place. She despised the kind of pointless inspirational drivel coming from her mouth. But she understood her duty, and she would see it done. It troubled her that Masters of the Hegemony needed such rallying, that her peers had not advanced beyond such displays…but there were men and women in the crowd who, though they had achieved Master rank, were in the tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands, in ove
rall genetic rankings. They were to her and her immediate colleagues, in many ways, as the Kriegeri and the Arbeiter—and even some of the Defekts—were to them. She had long thought the standards for Master class should be tightened…though she had always held back, aware of the inevitable disruption of forcibly demoting current Masters to Arbeiter status.
“I look forward to a bright future as we absorb this vast new population, and as we continue to advance our knowledge, our technology, back to and beyond the levels of the old and lost empire…to a new dawn of humanity, and an endless march into a bright and hopeful tomorrow.”
She didn’t believe much of what she was saying, but she had to secure a united Hegemony for the struggles that lay ahead. She understood the need for the Hegemony’s manifest destiny, and she supported that goal in every way. Yet she saw the decay setting in all around, and she imagined it had been thus even in the days of the empire. Did the Great Death begin like this? With arrogance and growing hubris? Are we on our stated path, or merely following the road that led before to such suffering and death?
Perhaps a new enemy, a war of conquest crowned ultimately with victory, and the infusion of billions more humans into the Hegemony, might alter the troubling trajectory she saw her people taking.
“It is for the purposes of seeing our noble mission succeed that I have ordered the full mobilization of the Grand Fleet and called to arms all levels of our vaunted military forces. We shall strike the Rim with all of our strength, and we shall bring these wayward humans into the fold.” She paused. Mobilizing the entire Grand Fleet would seem extreme to many…and would reignite fears of the Others.
Those abominations, once human, but twisted into nearly unrecognizable form by the generational effects of radiation, biological, and chemical weapons, had struck only once, more than one hundred years before. They had come from nowhere, from the icy depths far beyond the old borders of the empire, and they had nearly destroyed the Hegemony. Akella’s review of the highly-classified records had convinced her they would have done so, utterly, if they had not simply ceased their attacks without apparent cause or explanation, and withdrawn into the depths of unexplored space.
That had been a century ago, and yet it remained the sole shadow casting shade on the bright confidence of the Masters and the Hegemony. It was the reason the shipyards had worked ceaselessly for so long, that millions of Kriegeri had been mustered, that the exos and implants that made them such fierce warriors had been made ever more powerful. Now she was sending that force, virtually all of it, a hundred years of tireless work by billions, far off to the Rim, leaving the heart of the Hegemony undefended.
It was a gamble. She was not sure if she believed the Others would one day return, or if they even still existed, but her calculations had been accurately and correctly done. A long, slow, costly war on the Rim would be a greater danger to Hegemony security. She would leave the central worlds weakly protected, but with all the might of the Hegemony’s armed forces, she had every reason to believe the war could be accelerated, that victory could be attained quickly. The Hegemony would again be at peace, vaster and more powerful than ever before, ready to face the Others if they one day returned.
The Rim polities were chaotic entities by all accounts, their citizens breeding with little or no regard to genetic profiles…with no apparent effort whatsoever to ensure the advancement of future generations. Yet, despite this lack of discipline, they appeared to have produced impressive military assets, and created a solid core of warriors to man their ships of war. Akella was resolute, but confident nevertheless. She dare not underestimate them, nor the resistance they could offer. So, she would unleash the Hegemony’s full might on the new enemy.
She was Number One, and the decision had been hers, and hers alone. She did not know how long she would retain her office, how many years it would be until another eclipsed her position…but until that day, she would do as she determined best for her people.
The orders had been given…and she knew what she had done would be the defining moment of her time as the Hegemony’s leader, however things went.
Chapter Four
CFS Repulse
Sagamore System
Two Transits into the Badlands from Dannith
Year 317 AC
“Primaries, open fire.” Sonya Eaton sat on Repulse’s bridge, feeling strange in the captain’s chair. She had held the rank of captain for two years, but she’d spent most of that time serving as a fleet commander’s aide, first under Admiral Barron, and then for her sister, Commodore Sara Eaton. She’d been in the thick of most of the fighting that had occurred since the Hegemony had been discovered, but this scouting mission at Repulse’s helm, and the one that had preceded it by several weeks, was her first in command.
She watched as John Fuller, her tactical officer—sitting at her station, by the way, or at least what she still thought of as hers—turned to respond, but stopped when the bridge lights dimmed, and the faint, high-pitched sound of the particle accelerators announced that the primaries had fired before he was able to report so verbally.
Eaton nodded, silently relieving Fuller of the need to make the now pointless report, and then she turned toward the display, waiting for the hit assessments to come in.
Seconds later, she saw the results. Two of the four beams had struck one of the approaching enemy ships…and blasted it to atoms. The primaries were designed for battles against other capital ships, for pounding multi-million-ton monsters into submission, not for shooting at light escorts. But the enemy battleships were still out of range, and there were nine of the smaller vessels heading for her small flotilla.
“Status on landing operations?” She knew already, but her impatience pushed the words out of her mouth. Olya Federov and Repulse’s squadrons had shattered the Hegemony forward line, taking out thirty-one of the small escorts…and buying Repulse and the other vessels of the scouting force time to slip through the transit point before the enemy heavies were in range. The nine—now eight—remaining escorts weren’t strong enough to stop Repulse, not without a near miracle in terms of targeting.
And there won’t be eight by the time they get into range…
“Flight control advises all landings should be complete in six minutes, Captain.”
Eaton could see the gauge next to the main display. The primaries were already recharging. They would get another shot before the escorts’ smaller guns entered firing range, perhaps two shots. And at least a third before the small vessels got close enough to do any real damage with their weaker lasers. By that time, the fighters would be aboard, and Repulse would be blasting her own engines at full toward the transit point.
The escorts were a poor match for a battleship like Repulse, but Eaton was concerned about the crews of any of the handful of her own support vessels. She couldn’t imagine the enemy throwing so many ships away, even their smallest craft, for such a poor chance of stopping Repulse.
Though, what do we really know about these people?
Still, there was one saving grace. The failure of any of the enemy’s capital ships to close alongside the escorts suggested strongly that she had seen the limits of their thrust capabilities. The Hegemony ships had more engine power than comparable Confederation vessels, but it looked very much like there was a limit to that edge. That was still supposition, but she felt strongly enough about it to report her findings to her sister and Admiral Winters as soon as she got back to Dannith.
If we get back. Those battleships are faster than we are, and if they chase us through to Vendilar, we might not make it back to the final jump point before they can hit us.
She pushed the thoughts away. There was nothing she could do about that possibility…and it looked like the Hegemony forces were still massing, not ready for any major operation yet. That was bad news for the fleet and the Confederation—the last thing the defense of Dannith needed was a further increase in enemy strength—but it also meant they weren’t likely to disrupt things to
o much to chase down one battleship and a handful of escorts. Hegemony thinking and doctrine were mostly a mystery, and she couldn’t imagine they thought they were maintaining any kind of secrecy just two transits from Dannith.
“Captain, we’re picking up more energy signatures. Incoming ships from the Calavar transit point.”
Eaton held back a sigh, and she turned toward the display. And froze.
There weren’t just energy readings. She was looking at numbers she’d never seen before, and she wracked her brain, trying to calculate the level of transiting tonnage the figures implied. A mistake…it had to be a mistake.
Only it wasn’t.
Ships began emerging, and appearing on the display. Not one at a time, but in groups of four or five, one followed almost immediately by the next. It was too far for detailed mass readings, but from what she could see they were all large…probably battleships. There were dozens on the display already, and they were still coming through, showing no signs of slowing.
She’d been worried enough about what she’d found in the system already…but as she watched more and more ships pour through the transit point, she found herself fighting off a wave of panic.
“Commander, advise flight control I want all fighters landed in two minutes.” She paused for an instant. “Because in two minutes and five seconds, we’re blasting the hell out of here. Admiral Winters has to know what’s happening in this system.”