The Futility Wars

by Magnus Thollander

  The cargo ships needed to escape. He launched all his missiles toward the enemy ships and half of them bypassed the anti missile defense and lit up the endless space, he bought himself some room to fight, and he had to move his 1 billion battleship from the Luna trading station to help him get out of this pickle by chipping the enemy off from the side, he did not feel in dire straits to portal in several more battleships just yet, he wanted to keep that card hidden, if he lost he would simply liquefy his ships with several pinpoint missiles to deny them their victory. He kept struggling against the other warriors until they finally relented when he his second fleet arrived and started to flip the table over by killing the ships from the outside, he pushed his advantage and the enemy was scrambling toward the hyper lanes, he kept following and killing until they relented. A few hours later he was now surrounded by debris, he sent his 1 billion drones to clean up the battlefield starting with his ships and technology. He sent an additional fleet to secure the area while he questions who was behind it, was it north or east? Does not matter, he will get this answers one way or another.

  "News flash: Another battle in the sol system broke out today against S-4XN-001 the owner of the Luna station and the warrior that defeated the earth navy back several years ago, You can see here several billions of ships engaging and surround a smaller fleet, but they persevered with additional reinforcements and the enemy disengaged. S-4XN-001 commented he would find their nest, and he would bring swift death to their systems no matter who was behind the attack. He had several leads already and was now on route he said. We will keep you updated!"

  S-4XN-001 launched his processing power in finding the guilty and tracked several communications networks bouncing around and several territories in the east was responsible, he would wipe that scourge out quickly and send a message to the rest of the warriors seeking his wealth. He launched a five billion ship fleet that went straight to warriors 50 system territory, no way he could have had that many ships himself, but he would find out who was his conspirators no matter how many planets he had to set on fire.

  Leo were sitting in middle of the Que to the station for his docking clearance, he had waited almost two days to unload his fresh batch of minerals from the asteroid and the crew were ready for some real R&R, He pulled out his electronic pipe from its charger and took a puff of tobacco which he had to trade an arm and leg for, east sector were incredibly wealthy in minerals but luxurious goods like alcohol and tobacco were a hassle to find, as soon as a delivery came the supplies would only last two days at most, he had been hosed before by only buying enough for a week, but he and the crew now knew that buying at least for two months extra, he just enjoyed his break while he could they would work harder than any other crew when they found their asteroid to mine. He heard something weird in his speaker, and he turned up the volume to hear.

  "WARNING, ENEMY ATTACK. ENEMY ATTACK. DO NOT ENGAGE AND ACTIVATE YOUR BEACONS SIGNALING YOU ARE Civilian, I REPEAT DO NOT ENGAGE AND ACTIVATE YOUR BEACON!" the voice from the radio said, Leo flipped the switch immediately and the lights turned yellow showing an alarmed state, he put on his ship scanner and cameras to see what was going on, and he dropped his pipe on the ground when he saw the enemy fleet suddenly appear in the system, He checked his scanner telemetry and got a reply, Warrior battleships owner S-4XN-001. He just stood there and watched the camera when he felt an arm on his shoulder he turned around and saw his son standing behind him, "Do you think he's after the boss?"

  Leo nodded and looked at the titans in the fleet and knew this was a losing battle for Jonathan he activates his drive and immediately docked with the station ignoring any law, he needed to sell this load before this station no longer existed.

  Meanwhile

  "S-4XN-001 KNOWS YOU ARE NEXT IN THE CHAIN, YOU HAVE TO SELF-DESTRUCT TO SAVE THE COLLECTIVE. YOU HAVE DONE A GREAT SERVICE, BUT IT MUST END NOW. JONATHAN WE LOST THIS BATTLE BUT WE WILL WIN THE WAR, YOUR SACRIFICE WILL BE WORTH IT." Jonathan was a simple warrior until a year ago when he was given several billions of battleships, massive territory gains in the occupied east to do this one task, kill one billion ships in Sol, then bring the salvage back to re-discover the technology of the exiled member of the council.

  He had several conspirators around 50 of them, but he knew he was tricked to attack. He was a pawn like the others, He could save them by killing himself and not allowing S-4XN-001 to probe his data banks and find the others, He had been the essential cog that transferred the ships around to his "brothers" in this struggle. He would surrender and hope S-4XN-001 spares his life, or kill himself before the others kill him to shut him up. He took the one option available to save his life and broadcast the information on his superior and the co-conspirators to S-4XN-001 and offered a immediate surrender in exchange for his life.

  "YOU ARE OF NO CONSEQUENCE AND YOU MAY KEEP YOUR SHIPS AND TERRITORY, YOUR INFORMATION ON YOUR SUPPLIER WILL BE ENOUGH PAYMENT FOR YOUR LIFE, DEVOTE YOUR EFFORT TO THE FUTILITY." said S-4XN-001. He agreed instantly and saw the battleships leave his system to kill his neighbors.

  S-4XN-001 swiftly dealt with the minor non-grouped enemies they did not stack up like before in sol, when he was the attacker he was invincible. Out ranged their old battleships and devastated every system while billions of drones came behind to scrap anything of value and sorted into a nice little box that would be transported by a incoming portal ship.

  The war was swift and S-4XN-001 had gained once again almost as much as he had when he was fighting in sol, war was the key to fast expansion. And he already had plans to jump out into the center of the galaxy and start expanding there and learn about the black hole in the center. He wanted to know about dark-matter and its prowess. He would leap toward the center with a custom portal ship that could cross the distance in 40 years instead of 100. The galaxy was massive, If he could short down the distance to 40 years that would be acceptable. No point in tying up a ship for 100 years just to open a door. S-4XN-001 knew his real opponent would be the self title lord of the east, He had the information who supplied his enemies to ambush him in Sol, but this was an undertaking that would enrage every other warrior in the east. He needed his entire fleet to attack and that was not an option right now. He had too many balls to juggle in his territory, defenses need to be kept always. He needed a fleet killer, something like a titan but for fleets. Something that kill thousands instead of a single well-placed shot.

  He spent half a year collecting all the scrap from his bounty and went back to his territory, Trying to win a war of numbers with less. He instantly decided that a plasma titan was the key, Fast firing long range, and massive area of damage. He settled on a design that would shotgun five thousand balls of plasma the size of a car and had extremely fast reload speed, He could fire them once every minute, and had several defenses to pick up anything that got close.

  Seyla walked down the corridor of her station and sat down, several other people stood up and bowed their heads and re-seated themselves. "So, This trade sanction suddenly hit us the same time S-4XN-001 was attacked, i assume it's not a coincidence?" she said.

  "No mam, It seems the others sees us as his puppet or his employees since we had some benefits, although WE dont even know what you did to secure us this station, but we are extremely grateful to both of you. The sanctions will be long and lasting, Also that the a1-element is now off the market and so far as i know only he was able to mine and refine it. Will be turning more heads toward our direction. We are in a no-win scenario and i suggest we just temporary stop trading to the central, west,east and north sector and focus on stockpiling and expanding our south trade. We should also contact S-4XN-001 to ask for some private contracts, in especially the a1-element which would help us unblock our sanctions if we got our hands on it." said Luger. Everyone was nodding and agreeing.

  Seyla shook her head "What little pull i had with him are gone, We cannot even get a upgrade to the station anymore, which i have asked for every month since he built the stat
ion. We would not have built the "copies" if i had his ear to help us. The a1-element is out of the question to trade it has been in the hands of warriors and will probably stay there until someone figures out how to refine it, most scientist can't even believe it exists until they see it for themselves, which i assure you nobody really has."

  Seyla sent her monthly call to S-4XN-001 and no real response this time either. She needed something that he desired, and he had everything. She stood on the balcony and looking out the windows to the endless space, She had researchers and several technicians look at the window and came to one conclusion, How is it possible? And the answer was, Specially Hardened glass, with inbuilt shield emitters binding it together, they recognized the glass would survive a direct collision with a missile or a battleship, but the shield emitter inside the glass would take over and if it came too much pressure the glass would explode and the stations emitters would take over and reinforce it until the power ran out. The emitter was near indestructible hiding in the special reinforced points in the station made with probably a1-element, they could not even reach the special reinforced pillars, and if they did they might anger him to trying to steal his technology. So Seyla forbade it.

  Yui had her ear on the station in the Luna system, she had transferred over there to help trade, and she heard the gossip of a future war that was gonna eclipse anything was coming, she knew finally the war between sectors would begin, east vs south. And she knew the mood was, east would not fall due to reinforcements from the north. S-4XN-001 had overextended with the sol station with the 11 billion souls inside, It was a liability that could not be defended, and she knew it, she knew the moment he struck Luna trading station would be destroyed or seized by enemy combatants. She forwarded this message to S-4XN-001 in hope of getting some benefits from her analysis.

  "YOU ARE CORRECT FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW, BUT YOU ARE BUT A HUMAN THINKING ABOUT ONLY ONE Possibility, THERE ARE ENDLESS Possibilities THAT GET NARROWED DOWN UNTIL YOU HAVE SIGHT OF A CLEAR VICTORY, YOU ARE SMART BUT TOO SMART. YOU OVERTHINK THE SIMPLE, JUST KILL THEM BEFORE THEY STRIKE." replied S-4XN-001 in a message.

  Yui was baffled at finally getting response from him, she and her sister had tried every month just to get a reply, and she knew that he at least would keep their proposals and requests in mind, whenever he answered. Perhaps his will lead to a benefit or a little help in the future.

  Ten Years Later, Paradise System South Sector.

  Ricardo was the appointed commander of the vanguard in the south, They were not officially part of S-4XN-001 military forces, just like hobbyists keeping the peace and patrolling extremely secure systems with borrowed battleships. He had the most advanced battleship in the entire galaxy probably, Made for their use in patrolling the sixteen Earth-class planets in the system in a fleet of 500 ships, The men mostly enjoyed the duty to be of some use, and they had war games constantly on everything from ground to space combat, They had asked for several virtual training scenarios but it was not the time for that according to him.

  Ricardo had to do with the little things he had, There been people protesting that he and the vanguard was just wasting time and playing soldier when they asked for resources to build their own ships, weapons and their own research. The people had probably been correct about them playing to be someone important or doing something of value, The system was secure and there were countless ships and defense to pass to even get to them, They had done what little important things they could, like transporting people and goods, Or just traveling to the trading post to pickup peoples cargo or escort a cargo ship or two. They had asked S-4XN-001 for a mission or something importance that they could help with several people were deployed to his trade bases to help out security or management positions. Ricardo was asked to be the security officer of Luna, but he refused, He knew he wanted to be a Navy Commander, not someone that stops people for drinking too much or smoking too much space weed.

  He knew someday he and his boys would be needed to fight a battle somewhere in the galaxy, War was brewing constantly, and he had access to all the feeds he ever needed. East was throwing punches to the South, and he wanted to be the one swinging back from the South. He used to live in brazil, and he was one of the survivors from the attack on Earth, He was devastated when he lost his hometown and everyone he ever knew in that attack, He first wanted revenge and to burn down the south for years while he drowned himself in drugs and alcohol to numb the pain.

  Then he realized that it was not his fault or S-4XN-001 fault his hometown was destroyed, After meeting his current wife and then coming down to the south and living on "Paradise Lost", a romantic name for sure. He started to notice the simple things that everyone overlook, His boss was not human, He had no feelings, coincience or morals anymore. Earth stomped down on the hornets nest and the hornet stung him, Was it the hornets fault for attacking or was it the human that stepped on the hive? Everyone would say it was the human's fault for disturbing the hornet, and that was what he knew from the interaction he had with the people in this system. Nobody had ever talked with him, or even given time of day except his parents. And they just asked for things and got them, Not because of love but because of some sort of "Thank you" for a service once provided, They were not fleshed and blood anymore. They were Humans talking to a machine.

  Ricardo stood up from his captain's chair and the crew saluted him while he walked back to the lounge to grab a piece of food, He was quite happy about the different sorts of food available, He had several different meat dishes that would cost him an arm and a leg in Sol. Here it was just food, He never seen a sheep or a pig walking around on paradise lost, so he assumed it was somehow grown in lab. But it tasted better than ever, He had only eaten meat once in his life before and it was on his 18th Birthday, It was an experience for sure but it was overcooked and overpriced. His father bought it as a surprise and it was a great gift that he could even brag to his classmates about eating meat. He took a few slices of every different meat dish and sat down and started to eat quite quickly. He just needed the energy, the taste was just a side effect.

  "Sir, We just got a communication from S-4XN-001. He asked that all Commanders are to report to RRX1 System. Everyone has already reported in, and Commander Redmond has requested that you pick him up from the trading post before you head there. He wanted to talk to you in private offline." said a saluting soldier.

  Ricardo swallowed the last of his food and walked back to the captain's chair and ordered the crew to head to the trading post. He felt that something was starting, and he was gonna have his war. Redmond stood on the trading station dock when the battleship docked, He saw the door open and the ramp was extended. He walked up the ramp toward the door and saw several minor officers and crewmen salute him while they were scrubbing the floor, Standard procedure when you dock, you clean. He smiled at that it was his little "law" that he had introduced into their little book of combat laws and commands.Ricardo greeted him in the corridor and led him into a conference room aboard the battleship,

  "Redmond, Why did you request this? You could have taken your own battleship there." said Ricardo with a smile.

  "Because i know what's upcoming and i want you to know so you can be prepared, I want us to succeed at this for this is our dream of joining the fight. We are going to invade the eastern sector, and we will the vanguard we will lead the first fleet in a new test, And we have to prove that we can hold our ground out there against the futility and the humans alike. If we fail i have already signed up for a transfer of my consciousness to a warrior shall. This is the one shot we got." said Redmond with a heavy face.

  Ricardo got excited about the prospect of finally going to lead his own fleet, He wanted to lead it against the futility but the eastern sector was acceptable too." Lay it on me, What's so important that we can offer to this struggle? What do he requests of us? I have studied-" Redmond shook his head.

  "It's a new ship, a fighter. Similar to the futility's normal ship, Tiny things of
no real importance, But i know they are remotely piloted connected to a new machine that links machine and man together, We will control it from a special new ship, and we will be held there with zero time lag, and i need you to be the best. I need you to win this simulation no matter what." Redmond said with a straight face.

  "I'll get my best men to aid us, I'm going to do this. You don't have to worry.You gonna stay important and in the fight without becoming a machine. You got my word." Ricardo said.

  He was pressured at the thought his best friend was about to become a warrior if this failed, he thought it was bit extreme just because he lost a single chance of playing a virtual war game. But Redmond had always been able to sense his future, he escaped the Mars war just before his ship got shot down a moment later, He had a knack for knowing his own demise, considering the unlimited times he had been almost stabbed or murdered in the dark alleys of a space station. He was bad luck, but also good luck if you know it was coming, then you could prevent it. They left the conference room and walked to the command central, It was in the heart of the ship instead of the front like in the movies, They were well protected here against any lucky shots.