The Futility Wars

by Magnus Thollander

  He felt a mind touch him when he entered the star chamber, he lightly lifted both his arms in salute and then stood on his spot while waiting for the rest of the guardians to arrive.

  He did not have to wait long for all the guardians to assemble "The Humans will send several billions of ships and soldiers stall the enemy in a single system in the Ieka system, their efforts will be fruitless, but we will also monitor their tactics and technology to see any value or the threat they could impose on us, we know they will not back stab us with such a small fleet, and we have already been in negotiation with their warrior leader. We have set the cap of their fleets at five hundred billion and their soldiers at one trillion to be sure they do not plan anything. Although we have some Intel that they do not breed like us and their gestation period is longer from the limited information we got from the Vagabonds before they left." Bihne transferred through the telepathic link across the room, Qasqaer felt the humans were noble for assisting no matter how stupid they were for coming to their galaxy and losing precious ships and people instead of fortifying their own.

  He could not get any read of the warrior machine that had negotiated since he had no substance to connect his strong telepathic power to read his feelings and emotions about it, He knew the humans possessed a massive portal similar to their own technology that seemed superior to being able to ferry across the galaxy.Their portal technology could not get them across the galaxy, but they have never tried or even thought in those patterns their galaxy had billions of stars why would they leave? He had never asked for their technology or any trade since that would cheapen his honor, to ask for a trade in technology or resources from someone was the utmost humiliation in this galaxy.

  They rather die out than beg for help, they would take any help or technology they could get, but they would never ask for it, He would monitor the humans closely to see their value and if they wanted to die for him and his people that was fine by him.Seyla watched at the television while her daughters laughed at the shiny objects across the screen scrambled to the nearest portal to report for duty or feel their untimely demise, she had a direct feed of the gathering point, and she saw billions of ships and troop carriers marching into a portal across the galaxy, a massive looming door that she could not guess how much energy was required to keep it active and process all that mass across without breaking.

  She had almost wanted to negotiate and talk to Ortha, but she was denied, and he admitted that he told them that he was the sole leader of the milky way, she like most people in the galaxy was quite angry at his statement, but they could not refute that he had the biggest fleets and the most human populations in his systems. Nobody wanted to be first to rock the boat and then get sent of to a intergalactic war for causing a riot, all the prisons in the galaxy was being emptied and the prisoners had one simple task survive 25 years in battle or die immediately, some had refused and been killed instantly, and she felt it was not the right way to do things but it did send a clear message across the galaxy that this was their reality now.

  She did send a video to a news network claiming that S-4XN-001 would disband this policy of war or death for criminals within a year or two and that had calmed down most people, She lied of course, but she knew he would probably do as she told to save her and himself some face although he never cared about that. She felt the tugging on her sleeves, and she looked down at her daughter Juliet "Mama, lookie!" Seylas eyes widened and saw a tiny puzzle cube slide across the table. "Yua!" she gasped.

  Yua turned around and cube slid off the floor, and she jumped in fright at the high-pitched voice of her mother, she started to tear and Seyla lifted her into her bosom and whispered "Sssh, Mommy is sorry it's alright" She pulled a little candy from the table and gave it to her and Yua looked bit better chewing on the soft chocolate and Juliet looked at the candy and Seyla gave her one as well, Juliet started to struggle to enter the hug aswell, and she put down Yua and Juliet climbed up.

  "Can you do that again, Yua?" Seyla said with a soft voice. Yua looked at Seyla and then nodded, and she slid the cube toward her. "When did you learn how to do that? Mommie won't be angry if you tell." Seyla said. "Daddy taught me" she said. Seyla thought things over and some things started to fall into pieces immediately like how intelligent her daughters seemed to be for being at such a young age and how well-behaved they were unlike most kids in the galaxy, she had seen plenty of children and been around many in her extremely long life, but she knew her kids were bit odd compared to the rest, When Seyla watched Yua click the images on the screen and swipe it in a playful manner and stopping when a giant wall of text arrived she assumed Yua was just shocked at the marvel of the image changing like a child should have been and not reading the massive wall of text.

  She felt conflicted, and she was going to have a long discussion with Matthias after they went for their afternoon nap. Yua pulled the cube back and forth and Juliet watched and then pulled another cube into it, and they collided and both laughed. Seyla just stared for half an hour until they got exhausted and needed a nap.Seyla called the babysitter, and she went somewhere private where she could yell for an hour.

  "I can't believe you! You gave them psychic powers! ARE YOU INSANE?" she yelled at Matthias and it really pissed her of with his not caring attitude.

  "Technically they already had the gift of psychic energy, i just sped things along. They might have developed blocks in their brain stems that could need surgery to activate it later. Better solve this problem early with an injection instead of a cloning body in the future, Besides it will be extremely useful for them in their daily lives. I mean i can-" he said while Seyla screamed back interrupting him.

  "You are being irresponsible and now you are experimenting on our children!? How could you-" she said while he interrupted her for once. "I get it you are jealous but you already have the gift already, You just never used it. Think about it? You think you are the best mother in the galaxy meeting their needs before they say it? You are simply picking up and sending psychic signals unconsciously to sooth them or satisfy their needs, Have you ever tried to move a object? Try it." he hung up, and she was shocked.

  She looked at the vidscreen, and she shook his head, she tried to call him back, but he would not answer she raged and swiped her on the table, and she saw her cup fall to the floor she lowered her hand to catch it, and she felt it freeze in the air, and she froze. She tried to move it and it slowly shuddered before falling on the floor spilling her coffee on the floor, she just stood there looking at the cup and the little cleaning drone that rolled out from the sidewall to slurp up the spill.

  Zhang shuffled into the troop transport above the planet and shrugged at seeing a person trying to escape in panic getting shot in the head by a turret that lowered from the ceiling, Zhang did a quick look around and saw several friendlies that had served under him or simply been his target, He made his bed by doing his work unsanctioned by the big boss, and he knew he was going to get in trouble for it eventually, and serving 25 years fighting the futility was going to be a good exercise. He was still linked to the warrior program and most prisoners were not, and they would not be linked a punishment perhaps or a message to the rest of the galaxy he did not know or care. He was quite depressed at the situation he preferred the intelligence gathering and managing, and he was quite annoyed when he heard Ricardo was going to lead the ground effort, the space police was going to be in control of a military operation and it could only end one way, his death.

  He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he saw the grinning Oleg, and he almost wanted to punch him square in the teeth and take the risk he would not be instantly killed by the turrets and shells guarding the line."Heh, Seems Mr Zhang is here as well, seems someone is on the same level as a pirate. Digging ditches, and oogling ladies." Oleg said with a chuckle.

  Zhang just rolled his eyes and turned back to the line waiting on his number to come up, Oleg tried to get his attention for a few minutes but Zhang would not give him the at
tention of day, he spotted Christine and several of the agents that engaged on the same op on Earth. He gave them a salute, and they saluted him back his number was finally called, and he got room 54393, and he had to stay there until the ship departed he took the lift to room and walked inside, it was incredibly cramped compared to this twelve room house. It had two rooms, a bathroom and then the rest. He looked at the food dispenser in the room and it only had the basic settings not the gourmet ones that were readily available elsewhere he saw a few nutritional bags, and he shuddered at the realization that they were gonna be eating a lot of those over these years defending that system. He saw a red envelope on the table, and he approached it, he knew what it meant, and he opened it, He took out the message and saw a metal key in the envelop he scanned it over and felt it was incredible sturdy, he guessed it was metal stronger than A1.

  He began to read the message: Mr Zhang, You are one of the five people that have this key, it will access a preset bomb that will detonate at the loss of the planet and all friendly lives on the planet. You and the four others will rotate so that at least one person will be present in the facility to reset the timer. There will be no leaving of the planet and a clone has already been prepared. Die well. He let out a sigh and connected the key to his neck chain and just lied down on the bed hoping to catch some sleep before meeting the other four key owners.

  Year 2558

  Zhang holstered his plasma pistol and went out to the lounge after his daily practice, He had spent three months on this ship while the drones slowly assembled a base and matching fortifications around it, the planet was now 50% forward bases with giant mechanical turrets, mines and other things you need in a planetary scaled war. The plan Ricardo formed was simple, Occupy 99% of the planet and give the enemy a kill spot to land that was shielded and then simply surround and pound them, Zhang chuckled at the stupidity of the plan he knew the enemy would probably siege the entire planet at once and all the bases would be separated immediately and then it was just a personal struggle to live as long as you can, He just hoped to die in battle instead of a being killed by the main base getting overrun while he was in the field and the bomb detonating, it had to be cycled every 24 hours or the bomb would detonate.

  He had no idea what kind of yield that bomb had or the size of it, He just hoped it was tiny and portable instead of clunked down in middle of a open room like an ancient computer terminal, Zhang had managed to call in all the favors he had with the Vanguard and got access to the latest weaponry upgrades instead of the alien tech that everyone else had, His fully commander level suit that was now fully red colored instead of the classic black and gold like the vanguard wore. Ricardo had reluctantly parted with his spare suit in return for service once rendered, he was going to stay in space as long as he could fight the futility, and then he would leave the system, The futility could chase him into dead space and it was no point in letting him be in the system, they had planted countless spy satellites across the system and even hidden on a tiny platform revolving the sun.Oleg had managed to score a titan class MEC that was supposed to be used by the certified vanguard forces that connected from the milky way through the portal tech that existed, Christine had gotten a few extra upgrades as well but not as widespread as him and Oleg.

  They had been in the game longer and collected enough goodwill and favor with the vanguard no matter how much they were hated by the grunts. Ricardo always paid back his debts, and he knew that he could count on them no matter how much he despised their anti-police mentality. Zhang finally saw the lights turn blue across the ship, and they were going to landfall now.

  Year 2559

  Ricardo got the reports from the Ortha, The Futility managed to break the line faster than they expected, the enemy was coming closer, and they were only fortified system he had already seen billions of ships traveling across the system regrouping somewhere unknown to him, He sent the order and the troop transports started to pull out of the system and back to the Milky Way, He just doomed the billion people on the planet but his orders were clear, hold the line, learn about the enemy and then die well. Ricardo would leave the system and then enter the simulation breaking the Vanguard motto of being in system while having a fight, The futility would target all the ships and no matter how much trickery he could employ the ships would be destroyed, he just hoped he could make a dent.The warriors in the system had a force of 50 billion ships and most of the factions had sent their bad apples here to die or simply to get data on the enemy that would come from them next, several new designs from his boss was deployed over each planet he assumed it was a live battle test.

  He recognized the turrets that were guarding the paradise system, and he saw a moon filled with a few titans MEC to see if the futility landed on a oxygen free environment, this system had been chosen for its diverse planets, and he knew this data was incredibly valuable. He saw several constructs he could not guess what they were and the data was classified even for him, if he were gonna hold the system as long as possible he would have liked all the information, but he knew the brand new designed ships from S-4XN-001 was here to help at least.

  Year 2560

  Oleg inserted the key into the bomb and turned it over, he saw the timer go active and will not stop until a key is inserted and turned around he left the boring room and walked into the connecting room that was fully furnished and filled with entertainment, he knew the that the boss man himself probably had stashed a shell with a key inside the bomb room in case something happened, but he was happy to have a big place of his own for a few days. The futility was about to strike the system, and he had the first shift, he would spend them here entertaining himself while could.

  Ricardo saw the first of the futility fleets enter on hundreds of different locations and the automated defenses across the hyper lanes opened fire tearing the ships to shreds, but he knew this was just a taste of what was to come, he shook his head and the portal activated no human would be in space, and he wanted to stay and fight, but he knew it was pointless. Countless drones were in the system recording every second and fifty new channels had been created just to broadcast the footage in space and on the planets. People in the milky way was glued to the broadcast and it was just the start of a endless conflict people were excited mostly, but they also were quite fearsome of the warrior technology when they saw it in full use against the enemy, missiles that struck ships and vaporized them and plasma bolts that melted millions of ships, But it would soon turn into a constant nightmare when another fleet entered and started to fire blindly toward the defending structures, People looked in horror when they saw the billions of tiny ships swarm the structures and then the stations going dark and then slowly breaking apart slowly being pulled into the star.

  The enemy kept shooting until they were damn sure the enemy was dead and went for something else, Ricardo had jumped out of the system and his now massive vanguard human force of five billion soldiers had started to dart toward the nearest fleet in their fighters that matched the size of the enemy ships. They were mostly all in the garden system connected to the simulation cabins, and he was excited to see what they could do against an enemy of this size.

  Redmond took command of the phoenix squad and darted toward the nearest enemy fleet that entered the system unchallenged on the grid, he set the orders to engage at will and retreat at will, no point in losing ships that run out energy or spent all their missiles this was going to be a extremely long and pointless battle, humanity needed to see this enemy for what it was, and he would stay here in the thick of it until he had no more fighters left in the system. He felt like he was invincible when he saw the first salvo of missiles strikes the enemy uncontested, and he made several potshots into the massive swarm that killed ships every single time he fired, he saw several of his comrades do the same and no losses were reported, he slowly let loose and simply followed along the line of the massive ships and slowly diverting off when the enemy slowly started to increase their vectors to match his,
He had killed over a hundred ships and this was just the first minute of the engagement he was holding down the trigger button and his energy levels were holding steady since the shield generator sucked most of the juice out of the power, He and his squad was doing the damage and the enemy was sure to be hampered by his efforts but the amount of ships in the system and slowly chugging down the lines were insane, They were close to hundreds of millions of ships entering the system at any minute, and the small dent he did was probably not even mattering, but he could not think like that, he just had to kill and kill until it did.

  Four hours later.

  Redmond reluctantly pulled off the entire fighter fleet or what was left of it to the carrier to refuel and resupply, He had the entire load of fighters deployed and all of them were out of missiles and running on fumes, he had lost over 2 billion fighters when the enemy slowly adapted to his approach to simply ram into the fighters or fire blindly on any approach vector, he had over 500 billion confirmed kills but that hardly dented the trillions of tiny ships raising havoc on the new losing hyper lanes, the warrior ships had gathered around the nearest planet and were firing missiles and long range beams toward the horde of ships killing millions but it was nothing compared to what was approaching their position, they took cover at the massive fortresses established for one reason to kill the futility. Redmond had shaken in horror when he saw the fortress break apart and fire a massive kinetic pole toward the chunk of the enemy and the massive explosions that followed outdid his entire fleets effort in a single shot, the fortress was glowing red and you could see visible smoke forming on the barrel while several millions of drones pulled a new massive shell into the fortresses barrel, It had just killed a hundred billion ships and then left the solar system on route to who knows where, it was an effective weapon, and he just hoped that some enemy got struck by the shell in mid warp.