by Solea Razvan
The Occupied Territories, Maramanakama, Garina district, central market of the planet’s capital, Tolina.
The day was a cloudy and cold one, as the rain poured from the sky and had been continuing to do so for the past week and a half. It was the kind of rain that followed great battles, or in this case, it was the type of rain that followed the slaughter which took place a dozen kilometers away from the city, at the forest and the foot of the mountain.
Future Maran historians would call it the Battle of the Red Cliffs, from the fire that engulfed the region, Imperium historians would for some time, call it the Great Fire of Baranji Forest, since in their opinion there was little tangible proof of it being anything else than a natural disaster, at least that’s what they ‘officially’ believed for quite some time.
But one thing both groups of historians could agree on was that a lot of people had died that day and the impact of those cursed twelve hours, had great ramifications, not just for the Maran Nation, but also for the Occupied Territories themselves and the whole Galaxy latter on.
And no more so was the effect of that day was felt, than in the city itself. The best way to experience it was the Central Market, where Ahmaianos and Kalynka where currently taking a kava break with friends.
“Six days! I go on a six day holiday from a beautiful and rich city, and in less than a week I return to a giant ghetto!” Palperarius, a grain merchant said to his friends and kava companions Dfurunahus, his street’s local doctor and an acquaintance of Ahmaianos and Kalynka, Ahmaianos was also a neighbor of his.
“I wouldn’t say the city is a ghetto.” Dfurunahus said to his friend, who replied by taking a long sip of his kava drink, in an involuntary attempt to somehow subdue his anger at that statement.
“In less than a week, we have lost more than half of the cities income, because outside merchants have all become too scared to even set foot in the state, let alone the city.”
“The Imperials have finally been punished for defiling our lands, and you’re complaining about a minor inconvenience!” Kalynka angrily interrupted him.
“Minor inconvenience is it? Well, tell that to my neighbors the Dawamuches, whose children are crying for food and their parents, are pulling their hair out of their heads, because no one is importing baby milk!”
“Tell that to my friend Bafuinus, who just got fired because hundreds of firms are declaring bankruptcy because of the rising cost of even the most basic living expenses, since this city relies on imports, or better yet, tell that to the tenants of the lower income districts, who will have to face a harsh winter, since the mountain that shielded us from the north winds is now gone, tell that to every house owner in the city who will probably lose everything they have once the river swells out and mudslides impact the city, since the forest that prevented that is gone!”
“Tell that to every man, woman and child who are now by the thousands interned in hospitals because the damaged sanitation system from that mess in Dukhym, has turned half the city into a giant incubator!” Palperarius replied before rising from his seat, unzipping his jacket and raising his shirt above his chest to reveal some very ugly bruises from what looked like a fresh beating.
“Tell that to the thugs who claimed to be from the resistance, who robbed me yesterday saying that in order to fight for my ‘freedom’ they needed my money and when I gave them every penny I had, they beat me up, saying it wasn’t enough and that by giving so little I was betraying the country!” he finished and then silently, but with great anger in his eyes, he sat down.
“You got off lucky; already the more deadly ones have crawled out of the woodwork.” Dfurunahus said as he took a sip of his drink.
“Deadly ones?” Kalynka asked apprehensively.
“Criminals and mercenaries, who when there’s a conflict going on, form bandit packs that go rob and murder civilians, claiming that their either doing it for the rebellion or against the ‘terrorists’.”Ahmaianos replied with a heavy heart, the guilt that he was partially responsible for this current state of affairs weight heavily on him.
“But the resistance has been active for nearly two standard decades and things like this have never happened before!” Kalynka added to the conversation.
“The resistance, up until now has never had such a significant victory against the Empire, because of that, the Imperials are keeping in reserve the resources, that were previously used to keeping the country running, and are redirecting them for use against any potential revolt, and since the rebels can’t afford or rather won’t waste their time and effort on petty criminals with an Imperial Juggernaught in their front yard, there’s nothing to stop the bandits.” Dfurunahus replied to her enquiry.
“But this doesn’t make any sense! We have almost 540 inhabited worlds in our nation, the Empire has millions of soldiers’ occupying them, even if we dealt them a heavy blow this was just-” Kalynka stopped herself before finishing that statement, she was about to say just 100.000 troops crippled, 100.000 she burned alive with her own hands, 100.000 who either died a horrible death, or where now in great pain and suffering.
Oh, she had no love for the Empire and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that many times that number of Marans had died during the war of conquest years ago, and many times that number of innocent civilians whose only crime was that they lived on a planet caught in the crossfire, but the fact that she killed so many, so easily and so horribly did not sit very well with her.
Yes, they were evil. Yes, they didn’t belong here. Yes, every foreign invader deserved to die! Yes, she wanted all of them gone, but wanting something horrible to happen to others and actually doing it with your own two hands was two different things, and no more so, when they numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
“Yes, they do have reserves and yes, a lot more probably died elsewhere and still do every day, but this is Tolina, the Capital City of the Capital Planet, this is supposed to be the place where the Imperials have the most strength, the symbol of their power and any insurgency here meets with a quick demise, something like this has never happened before.”
“This sends a message, a message that says: ‘The Imperials can’t event control their mightiest stronghold, so how can they control an interplanetary nation?’ It made them look weak, and that’s not good for them!” Ahmaianos supplied the answer.
“It’s not good for us little fellows either, things are going to get volatile soon, this whole Sector is an S class Fire Spell ready to go off, and what happened in that forest, is just the first of many flame crystals that are ready to blow.” Dfurunahus added to the conversation and with a look of sadness gazed into his cup. He, along with Ahmaianos and Palperarius, was old enough to remember the Imperial Invasion, and even though that had been a brief affair, when compared to other battles and wars, one time was enough for them.
Although that didn’t stop Ahmaianos from joining the resistance, or at least he barely now was starting to grasp what that meant, what could return to their lands, thanks to his and his comrades’ actions, along with Nobody in particular.
“So, what do you suggest we do? Not rebel against the Empire, just bow our heads?” Kalynka asked, but her tone was not an angry one, it was more of a pleading one, she truly wanted to free her people, but at the same time she was starting to feel something, which didn’t sit right with her………..She didn’t feel bad, she told herself that she didn’t feel ‘bad’ about what she did, but rather that she felt a sense of ‘discomfort’, with doing what she was starting to realize, needed to be done, in order to achieve their goals.
“I don’t know the answer to that, all I do now is that I’m not a rebel, everyone at this table’s not a rebel, and out of countless Marans and other ethnicities living in our system, there’s about one or two rebels out of the lot of them; And despite our efforts, for the actions of one rebel or Imperial, a million neutral civilians are going to pay the price for it.” Ahmaianos replied which drew stares of disbelief from Kalynk
a and stares of sadness from the other two occupants of the table.
At that reply, nothing more could be added, so after a few moments of silence Dfurunahus and Palperarius left, saying they had other things to do today, leaving Kalynka and Ahmaianos alone at the kava shop.
After a few more minutes, they paid for their drinks and both of them ordered some kava to go.
Kalynka held up her thumb and index finger, signaling for two more cups, while Ahmaianos held up his index and middle finger ordering the same amount, after that they left the shop for their respective destinations.
“Have you lost faith in our cause?” Kalynka asked him.
“I don’t know, when I started a few years ago, I was full of romantic ideals of brave rebels fighting the good fight, with the odds stacked against them, in their struggle to free themselves from the evil oppressors, and initially it was like that during the first few ambushes, but after a while you realize…………….you realize, that beneath that armor there’s a living breathing person, not just some mindless monster. I guess I didn’t lose faith, I just ignored what I always knew.”
“I feel like I don’t know anything anymore.” Kalynka replied and Ahmaianos was tempted to ask her elaborate on that and fill her in on just how much she was ignorant off, but he decided against it, since if her family did not inform her, who was he to do so?
There was also the possibility that she already knew, but choose to ignore the truth or was so deluded that she couldn’t see it, in which case he better keep his mouth shut, if he valued his health.
“Are you going to join Nobody?” she asked after making sure no one was in hearing range.
“First thing I do, after I finish teaching today’s classes.” he replied.
“Even……….even after what happened in the forest?”
“It’s because of that I’m joining……… I can’t just walk away………. not after that!” he replied and exhaled a breath of sadness and regret, after what he did…….after what they did, there was no going back.
Oh, sure he did nothing more than help plant the bombs, but that didn’t make him any less guilty, and upon that thought, he realized that he had been doing this for many years, during which he must have killed dozens, if not hundreds of Imperials, and he felt nothing, until that day when thousands perished, which was something so big, even he couldn’t ignore.
“Looks like I made the right choice in becoming a reb-……….. in becoming a terrorist, monsters like me belong there.” He thought to himself before turning his gaze at Kalynka and an idea struck him.
“Kalynka, you don’t have to join, you can still leave this life, leave this place, you can have a future!”
At this the young girl turned her head towards him in surprise, all confusion and sadness replaced with shock at his words.
“How can you say that, this is my home, my people, I can’t just leave!”
“Yes you can, this is not your only home, you can have another, and although it may sound blasphemous, you can have a much better one that this, so listen! This land has fallen, the past will never return!” “And for your sake I hope it never does!”
“We may have a chance to build a future, but you now know what the price will be, you can avoid that, leave all this behind, start a new life, go with your family far away from here!”
“This is my home, the only true home I’ve ever know, any other land is foreign to me!”
“But Kalynka!”
“Also…………also I was the one who pulled the trigger………..like you said, I can’t just walk away from that.” she replied with sadness and regret in her voice. At this, Ahmaianos shook his head, as it was obvious that she would not budge, so he said nothing, but turned to make his way towards the University, where he would be holding class soon.
“Kalynka, if you walk this road any longer, you’re going to have come clean and face your family, you’re going to have to face your brother, if it comes to that, what are you going to do?” he asked with his back turned towards her .
At this she said nothing, she merely stared into the ground, silently looking at her own reflection in a puddle of water, as the rain distorted the image. Ahmaianos waited a minute, then two, and four, and ten, but nothing was spoken, and so having obtained his answer, he walked away, leaving Kalynka to stare at the image in that dark and murky puddle.
For how long she remained there she did not know, but Kalynka stayed there with nothing but a reflection facing her, she stayed until the rain finally stopped and before her laid a clear image, of what, she wasn’t sure.
But, it was crystal clear.
Extract from the book “Confessions, an Admirals tale volume I”
It had been more than a week and at least eight star systems, since we departed from Volun 4 and things where not as bad as they’d been, as they where when we left off.
Oh no, they were worse!
After arriving at Volun 3, I immediately ordered a slight change in our route, instead of going to the Vi or Tory System, we went to Formett, and from there we travelled to the Ernichand. After that, there followed a long jump to Zulawilla, where we were currently traveling trough.
Now for those of you who are not familiar with this region, the route I have taken was the most illogical and impractical of all, in terms of ease of navigation, space stability, destination and general sanity.
The reason for this, was to discourage any further pursuit or at least send a smaller fighting force against our heavy fleet, since a route like this costs vast amounts of fuel and any self respecting naval cadet would see the error in chasing a small portion of the enemies ships with the majority of your forces, while leaving your territory vulnerable for the enemies main fleet.
But once more, the sheer lunacy that is war had reminded us, just what a stupid idea the action of actually trying to find ration and reason in the whole bloody thing, really is.
But I had little time for philosophy, well less than usual, as I made my way to the conference table for our latest little meeting, and once more I used as much willpower as I could to not vomit or look away from the monstrous beings surrounding me. I know how it sounds, saying how the very sight of someone different than you makes you want to hurl, but it was never out of choice, even after years in the armed forces, my body was still not accustomed to the countless species I would encounter during my service years.
And the more chowder heads of my readers will curse and shout ‘SPECIEST!’ and call me a bigot and xenophobe, to those blockheads I reply with:
Yes! I have bigot, speciest and xenophobic tendencies within my person, but I never let them decide my actions and judgment, and although I ignore them and rely on rational thinking and sound judgment for my decisions, I do have evil thoughts inside me. But you point to me one sentient that denies having them and I will point out, that you’ve shown me a cartoon, a caricature or the biggest liar this side of existence, for you see, we all have darkness inside us, but we always fight it and choose the light, does that make me or any other sentient evil?
No! It makes use mortal, and despite what others might have said I was and still am a mortal, with flaws, and the biggest flaw of mine was that I kept getting into hazardous situations by my own design!
So, this meeting had the intend of avoiding disaster for our forces and since that included me, I was most eager for it to bear fruit, so much so, that I spend some time before stargazing and even some during it, rehearsing on how to get the desired result out of the meeting.
Joining me on the round imitation mahogany table was Valyria, along with Tarkan and Georgaian, who were both using a hologram to project their presence on the designated seats, where they would have been physically. Both where commanding portions of the Heavy Fleet and where using this method for convenience’s sake, Adrian was not here, but was serving as the commander of the Light Fleet.
A pleasant aroma of exotic perfume told me that Butz was right behind me, ready to either hand me
any papers I might ask for, provide refreshments, take orders or memos, or if need be, as was so often was in my career, defend my person from attempts on my life.
“Ladies and gentleman, the enemy is about ten hours away and closing in, we have three star systems as our next option and I would like to hear your opinions on them.” I asked, waiting for their answer, while mentally rehearsing the various ways in which I could maneuver the conversation in the direction I so desired.
“The N’otuse and the D’ese systems are both sensible choices, since they both lead to Imperial lines, they seem like valid options for us.” Valyria said and I suppressed a desire to call her stupid, since she was stating the obvious and wasting our precious time, so I simply nodded and waited for the others to say their peace.
“The question is, whether we can reach our own lines before the enemy catches up.”Tarkan added, the former sergeant used a tone reserved for lamenting a situation brought about by an ‘incompetent’ officer, but since he was one of those officers, it had more of a self-hating tone to it, but it was not as powerfully pronounced as it normally should have been.
After all, we all have a tendency to avoid criticizing our own actions or at least to do so in public, except for yours truly of course.
“Butz, take a message.” I said.
“Yes sir!” he replied and got out a pen and paper.
“To the enemy commander, surrender now or forfeit any future opportunity for such!” I dictated and Butz scribbled away the message in his elegant hand writing.
“Now that we’ve followed the rules of war, we are free to show no mercy to the enemy when the time comes, so that solves our little dilemma on what do to if the enemy reaches us.” I said with a flippant attitude, which was expected of a soldier of my rank and reputation, and the act did brighten their spirits and restore some semblance of moral.
“Seems fair that we give the enemy as many options as possible, we don’t want to be bullies after all!” Georgaian said and a polite, if somewhat half-measured laugh went all around the table.
And sensing the mood they were in, I immediately presented my plan.
“Although the aforementioned systems are both valid choices, I have another destination in mind, namely Ear.”
“The Ear system? But that leads us back to the Volunian lines, wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of us avoiding battle sir, and be against our mission to draw the enemy out?” Tarkan inquired, and I was all too happy to oblige.
“Not necessarily, for you see my reasoning is thus: It is clear now, that we are not the primary target of the Volunians, for I have no doubt in my mind that they wouldn’t send such an exaggerated force for our meager few hundred crafts, so this is not the result of our bating action.”
“That’s true, you wouldn’t even need more than 1.000, hell 500-700 would do for our fleet, even if they are only composed out off destroyers and corvettes.” Valyria added.
“Now, it is clear that they must have some intend with this course, since this is ‘backwater route’ is an alternate and more difficult course for them, we can safely assume this is a major campaign for the enemy. That is why I suggest we move towards Ear, not only is it out of their way but also, it’s at least ten days worth of warp travel, by contrast our nearest system is only three days from here, the enemy will no doubt expend more fuel and their crew will be even more fatigued, making it even less likely they will follow us, and if they do, then we can deal a great blow to them, by making them waste their resources, since currently we aren’t in any shape for a real scrap.” I replied and I was confident the proposal would be shut down; After all, it sounded barney to begin with!
And you may wonder why I desired to be shot down and loose face in front of my officers. Well, simply put, after several days of being chased by certain death I said to myself: ‘Enough is enough! Time to give myself a good kick in the nadders and auto-expunge myself! ’
Thus, I wanted to get discharged or at least achieve my dream of being reassigned to an isolated post, and the only way I could see that happening, without intentionally sending countless soldiers to their doom, cause let’s face it, you can examine my memoires with a magnifying glass, but you will never find evidence of ‘Metternich the Butcher’ anywhere!
For you see, my plan was that after my proposal would be rejected, I would accept their no doubt more sounder ones, and once we hopefully got back to Imperial Space, I could use that as a pretence to resign from the navy, by saying it was a matter of honor. I’ve met one or two admirals, who could understand that, and with a little bit of luck, I could trick them into thinking that it was too much for me to bear, ‘honor dictates satisfaction’ and all other sorts of hogwash.
And if not that, then I could write a damming report about myself, that along with a glowing report of my subordinates, should be enough for me to finish my tenure as a mid-ranking commander, and sabotage my career, while leaving those of others intact.
Say what you want about me, but even a blackheart like myself has some standards and I never have nor ever will try to hurt any one of my allies, past or present, and above all that, these where career soldiers, if they wanted to get shot at, while wearing higher ranks and fancier medals than what they already had, then being the good friend that I was, I did my best to help them as much as I could.
And so, I waited with barely contained eagerness and joy for my plans to fail and for I to be embarrassed, and much to my expectations what followed was a disappointment.
For they all agreed!
“The option sounds good, since in our current state we can’t be much help to the main fleet, and I doubt there’s any allied vessel near our destination with an excess of personal for our ships.” Georgaian added to the conversation.
“Also, this way we can deny the enemy the usage of anything between two to three times our numbers of ships if we play our cards right.” Tarkan said and Valyria added her two cents, minus three, to the pot for this insanity jambalaya.
“We’ve protected our wounded, and since we are about 200 strong and can delay anything between 600 to one thousand from joining the decisive battle I’d say that’s a fine move indeed!” she twisted the knife; black booted the ass, then purple nurpled the nipple and wet willied the ear with that statement.
‘An even better move would be not dying!’ I screamed in my head, while looking on in horror, as everyone around me signed our collective death warrants, and much to my eternal regret my eyes blazed red, which signified that my undergarments where near the brown phase. But to others it looked like I could barely restrain my enthusiasm for battle, a fact not gone unnoticed by those in front of me, and their mood of acceptance for their seemingly inevitable demise was replaced by bloodlust, my red stare had that devilish effect on people.
“Outnumbered 100 to one, isolated, cut off from help and supplies, and going to an open field space desert.” I said and paused for dramatic effect while pretending to inspect my finger nails.
“Those poor Volunians don’t stand a chance!” I replied and with the ensuing laughter, my fate seamed sealed. Thus, we continued the meeting and discussed a few details of supplies and order of battle for all the good it would do us, after that I went to the bridge, since it along with the warp sanctuary was the most secured place on any ships, where I had a slightly bigger chance of surviving this whole mess.
Also, I thought when the inevitable surrender of myself and my Fleet would arrive, it would do me better to present my surrender from the bridge of my flagship, rather than an escape pod or from beneath my bed.
Thus, with trembling limbs, chattering teeth and loose bowls I waited, for what history would call the Battle of Ear, and if I had know what would await me then, I would have probably taken an escape pod, painted bulls eyes all over it and charged the Volunians with nothing but a ink pen and a large kazoo, but things being as they where I obviously didn’t.
That and unfortunately we had a shortage of kazoos.