by Marcus Sloss
The landing port for orbital shuttles was a large island. The vessel we were on drifted slowly in a swimming pattern through the air until we crossed over the open ocean. The pilot executed a hard right bank and as I knew from experience the drop lifted me. The sudden inertia faded when we pierced the water. The craft swam forward, it is the best way I can describe it. The view shifted from the bustling air to quiet blues and I decide to ask a question.
“Mila, I was taught in school that there were rules of warfare put in place by the Onatics, which are meant to ensure victory is earned. Not won at a push of a button. That is all the teacher had, I remember asking. Desperate to understand and know more. I was informed that since we are not even close to our hundred planets the information was restricted.”
“Not restricted you merely did not know how to ask or who to ask. The ministry of warfare is a bureaucracy so large they have their own planet. Stuffed so full with inspectors, regulators, referees, and more that they can handle all the issues thrown at them. So yes warfare is allowed, and species like the luni hate it and species like the lancers thrive on it.
“I will use a hypothetical story. Say humans find an empty uncontested planet. They race to get to it first or found it hidden in a Nebula. Maybe they exerted the effort to haul an ice planet closer to a sun to terraform. The Griffin, a minimal combat ship that has limited armaments could bombard the planet and a human ship would probably never get through the shields in retaliation. Well, that is not fair. Most species avoid space fights. The bumpers as you humans call them or guard rails are off with space battles. The largest, best designed, and best crewed fleet wins. No black holes, no chain dematerializing bombs, no AI, no nanotech. Those are the basic rules of space battles.
“Space sieges are different. Imagine us lancers decide to camp your planet. We could encircle it, prevent any supplies or troops reinforcements without ever taking any risks. The rest ties in later, you only need to know that an active invasion must be initiated for a space siege. That means troops on the ground and approval of a campaign to conquer the planet from the ministry of war.
“There are stages to a planetary war. Next example, humans claim the planet and no one contests. As an unprotected planet, which every planet after your first hundred is, it will be allowed to enter a war state. An opposing force or opposing alliance will declare war on the defenders of the planet. Depending on the size, value, resources, and time established a wager will have to be levied by the attackers. This is to stop endless harassment wars, you want to fight, then fight and get it over with or pay your annual levy. You heard that right prolonged fights by attackers cost more than a quick win. That is why you will see planets heavily defended and hard to capture up for sale. It is much easier to buy a planet than to conquer one. Also, I never said that out loud. Lancers find it unworthy to purchase instead of battle. Statistically, it is much cheaper, a fact one of our political parties constantly showcases. Of course, the mighty Emperor has given lancers a prosperous environment for millions of your years. Goes back to that cheaper and easier is not always better.
“It is important that you know how a planetary war is decided. There are no bombardments allowed from air. This used to get confusing and fighters were allowed until they dropped planet destroying bombs. Fighters are allowed again but restricted to guns instead of bombs.
“This is the big takeaway. The aggressor has to land ground troops and secure the planet by eliminating the defenders. The defender can surrender, as can the attackers. If neither surrender then one side has to be driven out or pushed off the planet for a declared winner. Annihilation also works for the claim to be completed. So you humans claim a planet and land ten million troops. How may they be equipped, and what can they use?” I shrugged and saw the girls hanging off every word.
“Well, the answer is based on which zone you are in. Remember zones only apply to unprotected regions of space. Each zone has ground troop restrictions. Four being the most restrictive, five the middle, and six the least. Are you catching the pattern yet? There is a value to each zone of planets too. Mineral rich a six, mineral poor a four. As you can probably understand Emperor ChiKhi does not bother with the four, and rarely the five. It is beneath us, degrading to downgear, and we want other species to venture out to be a challenge later. All this has taken tens if not hundreds of millions of years to form this way. The collective Onatics feel this was the best way to let the species have contained battle. So for your species, the entirety of your combat focus should be built around the tier four zone limits. Here they are.” She flipped the display to me.
The information generated in a well laid out display. Projectile weapons were allowed and limited on radius. At no point could the round, be it plasma, electric, laser or projectile demolish a ten meter area in diameter. I could select an in depth report on how that diameter was determined and when I opened it up I realized it was overly technical jargon. There were no super big death guns allowed, hell even humanity was using self targeting weapons which were banned on this list. The same went for transports, tanks, ships, and planes. I started to look over the restrictions and grew confused.
“If humans landed ten million troops and a few years of supplies you would never pry them off the world. These weapons while technically advanced do less damage than a lot of our armament now. No robotic armor was allowed, no giant weapons, fighters were restricted to only have guns, and tanks have a twenty meter damage radius limit. I mean the list goes on.” I thought it over. “This almost discourages fighting.”
Mila clapped. “For an intelligence of two, you figured it out, color me pink.” She said this as my eyes rolled at her pun. “The universe is massive, there is an endless amount of space to not fight over. The only reason to fight is because two species or groups decide to. That and the economic aspect, war fuels economies. I can say this from experience, treat others with kindness, especially if they carry a big stick. We are nearing and will get to shopping soon. Mack no trouble okay, if you bump into some other contestant do not antagonize them please.”
Our ship swam the last of the distance and we entered an air bubble. We excited along a bright entryway that flourished with plant life as much as it displayed ads. Didn’t matter where your traveled sales were always at work. There was an assortment of species that drifted around the first open section. The majority were luni who all were similar in appearance.
For the first time in my life, I stopped and let the ads assault me. I paused my pace and absorbed the entirety of it. The girls had followed Mila but stopped when they noticed I was gone. They darted back to my side to drag me.
“Wait,” I said as the crowd of shoppers flowed around us. There were some rude comments directed at us but I did not care. “Patience, we have all day. Study… you are here to learn, I thought I was the impatient young one. We need to understand what is being advertised. If we see two similar products in two stores but notice a price difference it is probably from the cost of advertising. We may have money, and I may not be strict with it but let’s be smart.”
We watched and it was boring after it cycled back to the same ads. I felt Astrid slid a hand over my left butt cheek and give it a tight squeeze. The sly girl, she threw a wink my way when I looked at her. Starla was getting agitated too, everything had built up to this moment of shopping and I was unfairly holding them back.
I grasped each lovely ladies' hand and hauled them behind me as we went to the first store. It was a gallery of sorts. The two girls gave oh’s and awe’s as they viewed the displays. The inevitable question came up. How much could we spend? I realized my expert was gone. Mila had drifted off somewhere.
“I am at the bar looking for a guide. If you bribe the tender they will get a relative to guide you for the day. Keep up next time. Follow the blue lines.” Mila linked to me. I handled it better this time.
I reluctantly dragged the girls out of the beautiful art store and down the blue lines, they fake pouted the whole way. It was
completely adorable. We were still doing that puppy love thing new couples did. The kind I normally vomited at seeing. I loved it though, we were having fun. I also loved trailing behind them and watching two asses sway with perfection.
The bar was a three story building with an open glass face for viewing in and out. I navigated around some slug type creature and cozied up to the bar beside Mila. There was an odd smell in here and the countertop was sticky. My boot squished in something brown and I frowned. Best to ignore whatever that was, hopefully, I didn’t crush a tiny alien peacefully having a drink.
“He bothering you?” The luni bartender asked pointing a webbed hand my way. His voice was deep and assertive when I saw no breasts so I pegged him for a male.
“One and a half Ds and no more. Also, he is my pet, be nice.” Mila said and then pet me on the head like a cat. I was dangerously close to smashing her face into the bar when she stopped. That was the right thing to do, I was certain she smelt my anger. My hands folded into a calming pose and I breathed deeply.
“Two and no lower. My son is the best, he even has reviews. Check out his profile and you will see. Two is a steal.” The bartender said and convinced Mila.
I saw two D-coins leave our accounts. Mila ordered three beers and handed them to us while we waited for the son to arrive. The brew was moldy and gross, all three of us promptly set the mugs back on the counter.
A younger luni, maybe three quarters the size of his dad showed up not long after our pull of the horrid brew. He gave that odd open mouth smile with his jagged teeth and introduced himself as Maruni. Not wasting any time he exited the building and waved us forward. Mila followed him first and left the bar with her drink in hand. Apparently, lancers did what the ever they wanted.
I watched Astrid race to Mila and ask to go see the first art store we visited. The boy shook his head at Astrid and led us deeper into the mall. An atrium highlighted a food court that we detoured around. A busy ramp declined into a deeper section of the mall. We arrived at a lower platform where oxygen tanks, wetsuits, and helmets were for rent or sale.
“It is worth it, the helmet rentals are a fraction of a D-coin. Trust me.” Maruni told us. I could see the water through the storefront glass. It started at the top of the next ramp. I was impressed by how they kept the landing pad dry. The transition platform was full of holes, and if a drop or splash remained a thin worm would dart up, slurp it, and vanish back down.
“Vensi to Mack, pay the fee so we can get in the drink,” Astrid said.
I had been doing the internal struggle about finances. “I am paying him right now,” I replied slightly agitated. The debate raged within about what was the right thing to do. Normally I was not as indecisive as this. By the verse, I was frustrated. Having enough of my internal deliberation, I sent a hundred thousand D-coins to everyone inside new accounts. They were now very wealthy women.
The weight of it lifted off my shoulders and I slid the rental helmet over my head. When it locked into place it gave me a display of air time. It was in the months so I was fine. I followed Maruni to the pad for transitioning into the water. I watched as a few luni dove down the ramp and smoothly vanished. It reminded me how lucky I was I fought the ones I did on land. Maruni paced in agitation as we waited on the girls. They were huddled over together in a chat.
“You did well in the royale, I enjoyed watching you. I wished I had bet on you, many wish they had. Few did. Where we go, the business owners are hungrier for work than up here. Most of our species conclude their sales on the surface section of this mall. The ones down below see far fewer customers but enough to stay open. They cannot afford the pricier rent up top, or they could but hate leaving water. I have become accustomed to land but some never do. You seem not like most killers, your eyes go soft, weak… When you look at them.” Maruni pointed at my girlfriends and Mila. He was not wrong, it was something that got to me the moment I knew I was rich. Extortion was very real in the universe. “You angered Uniza the mighty. The dragon lady you slew, not a creature you want as a foe. I normally bet on her as she wins most matches.”
The girls arrived ready to dive at this point.
“Mack, we talked, we will talk more with you later, for now, all of us thank you for trusting us with your money. Also this food…” Mila paused when she realized she had referred our guide as food. “Sorry, luni is correct. Uniza is a being of the dragumi race. One of the few we lose to in zone six battles. And now you weaklings will not hear more about it. Forward little fish, we have lots of shopping to do and only so much of it can be done underwater.” Mila ordered with authority and then muttered. “I hate wet fur…”
Maruni went from beaming while talking to me, to grudgingly leading us into the water. His face rarely contorted to show emotions. Well besides when he did the odd open circular smile. It was easiest to read his expression by his body language.
My suit indicates the water was cold and to not get naked, it was only four celcius. I dove in hoping to see some expansive mall but we were in a hallway. It made sense to keep the transition point basic. The hallway opened into a translucent tube and the dark ocean greeted us from the other side. A quick check on my display told me we were a hundred and twelve meters down. The mall structure must be regulating pressure for its clients.
The end of the tube opened up into an egg shaped shopping area that spanned in the kilometers. It was my understanding this was the biggest mall on the capital planet for the species. It was clearly thriving with hundreds of thousands of luni swimming to and fro. I saw far fewer aliens types under the water. In the middle of the expansive shopping center, I was immediately drawn to a clear circular ball that enclosed some younger luni playing a sport. There were little nets that would highlight with a random color that the younglings had to throw the balls into. A tally was given for certain colors and the participants were exuberant while playing. I missed ZBall as I watched.
I shifted my eyes to take in the layout of the shops. Instead of neatly organized lines for species to walk down and shift into the store, there were shops in a complete three sixty. All available space that faced the central point had a doorway. Between swims from one end to another kiosks and vendor bots offered trinkets and goods. There were so many luni here gracefully swimming it revealed an artform on its own.
My procrastination to study the uniqueness of the place was not unwarranted or only me. Maruni who had seen this countless times swam circles while he waited. I gave the girls a slight shove and we went forward. I glanced to see Mila licking her chops. A dark thought occurred to me. It was possible lancers fought on worlds in disputed zones for food at times. Maybe luni were the delicacy and not the actual fish this planet grew.
The first stall we went to was a weapons dealer. While I may have natural athletic abilities, and quick situational thinking. I had zero skills with weapons. The laws of Versi prevent gun ownerships and honestly, there was no need. I had thought about actually serving my three month sentence with the Empire Defense Force, so I could get some training. The idea held more merit when we swam into the store and I became lost.
Every item for sale was secured into place one way or another. I glanced at the wares and remembered I was not in a gravity store, so there were additional displays on the floor and ceiling. The ceiling was handheld weapons that did not projectile. Most of these I had seen in one shape or another. Knives, axes, swords, pikes, and really any lethal shape you could imagine was secured here. I glazed over them and was not sure I would want any of them.
The right side wall contained small projectile weapons. They were broken down into four sections. Zones four, five, six, and uninhibited.
“Mila what is uninhibited zone mean?” I asked through my helmet. My voice reached her ears as normal as being on land.
“Rare, but still happens. Say pirates board the Griffin, you can wear and kill with whatever the hell you want. There are actually a lot of scenarios not allowed by the ministry of wartime affairs. It is best
you read up on them. Oh, remind me to teach you about rouge species, and pirates too. I am glad this shop owner included that zone in his displays. You will need a set of that too. Let me go summon the worker here to answer your endless questions. For now, you will all need a nano knife. Then a stage four weapon set and an uninhibited set. What you like or decide to buy is up to you. The prices are actually very good. They are discounted low enough even my cheapness would not demand I barter. I recommend you buy in excess. Test it all in the training ranges and battle simulators on Griffin. Can always move the extra merchandise to another planet for equal resell or sell for more of those silly E-bits to your fellow humans.”
A large fat luni swam from the back of the store up to me. We greeted each other, this was Baruni, a pregnant male luni who owned the shop. I mentioned my lack of knowledge and asked for recommendations. The girls swam close to me interested to hear what Baruni had to say.
“Here are the class four guns as your language determines them. It merely means a weapon that has a range beyond its physical form. I always recommend laser and there are a few reasons why. “Projectiles jam, even though the occurrence is rare in most of the models I sell. Do you really want to risk your weapon losing function at a key moment? No, you do not. They require ammunition that is costly at times to produce and have a limited fire rate.
“Then there are the plasma guns. These handheld ones will pack a punch and melt armor continuously. I would recommend you attach one your belt for that emergency moment when a door or heavily armored opponent is in need of being reduced to slag. The downside is they require constant refueling, it can splash, and plasma is expensive to store. Not so much to acquire. The actual goop is cheap but the object that contains the plasma tends to be expensive.