They were incredible strong and a few scavengers had massed up a billion ship to engage one of the gates and ship to steal their technology, and lost and showcased horror on the faces of anyone attacking a soulless AI, the ships had been visible for moment, and then they were gone, hit by a beam of light that expanded into a death ray slowly cooking them inside, it was an improved version of the SAD device that went through the shield and were a weapon of horror, the ships had been recycled by other scavengers although with major complications considering they were radioactive messes and could not be touched without downing elixirs constantly.
Daniel chugged his beer in middle of the trade station donning his special armor made by his father, a marvel of technology that pretty much made him impenetrable from any handheld weaponry, it was a suit of power unlike anything ever built and it was his to use, and he had used it plenty whenever he saw something he did not like he would put his foot down and either save that person being bullied, or end that thugs' life for being a general scum, he had wished he had more interaction with his father and perhaps even joined him into his journey into the universe, but he knew he was a hindrance and set his sight to improve his fathers legacy, he had a motley crew of saved slaves and overall do-gooders that he felt could benefit his little cleanup operation, his band was known as the Revengers, which he felt was silly but it had stuck.
Most people put up messages on a forum, so he could see injustices and correct them, with his powerful spying networks he knew most of it was bullshit, but he found a few situations that need to be remedied and this was one of them, his two agents Jenna and Tobin, were playing a couple on vacation hoping to be snatched by the couple smuggler that inhabited this station, Daniel had an idea using his psychic power to test moods and emotions, he could not read their minds, but he could sense the vibes, and so they pretended to be a happy couple, but they were well protected and their room had two guard waiting on the kidnappers if they went too rough, but he knew from the data the kidnappers would bag them, and then throw them onto a ship to who knows where, he had already flagged the few potential mining vessels that could sneak out undetected, he drank the last of his drink and then walked back to his cover vessel, which looked like a burned out hauler from an ancient warrior that were mostly rumor and looked down upon, he walked inside the front and it looked like a run down shit hole, but when the door closed the internal holographic projector shut down and it was a sleek vessel well-kept and cleaned, with not even a dust particle in the air to be seen, he walked down to the armory and released his armor and walked into the command action that were filled with people pushing button and sending orders across the galaxy,
"What we got, Second?" Daniel said, The young man looked at him and pointed "Kidnappers are either spooked or not here, they have been vacationing for several days, and they match the descriptions of the targets taken. They might have hit their quota for slaves, or they know something is up." Second said, his name was bit wierd, but he had been a slave in the empire before being freed, and they labeled all their prisoners in number. Perhaps he felt shame of using his old name so Second stuck, Daniel rubbed his chin and closed his eyes to reconstruct what he felt and the people in the room.
"No, There is something. Something missing. The couples bring up their files again and compare our fake files, let me see if something makes them unwanted." Daniel scanned the files constantly looking up and down, left and right but finding nothing until he heard a voice behind him "Insurance, they had the same insurance company, That's the only link and our couple does not have them, it's the only thing i can think of." Daniel smiled at hearing the voice of his girlfriend Lana.
"You think this is an insurance scam? Or perhaps a rival corporation trying to bankrupt them? They are the biggest travel insurance in the galaxy, no way they would go bankrupt from a few kidnapping payouts." Daniel said, Lana approached him and grabbed the pad switching the to the cameras of the kidnapping, "See, how they handle the targets. Don't you think it's odd?" "I know it's odd." he added, knowing full well how gentle the kidnappers were they simply flashed a gun, and they were led out, but that was the best defense to give up and not cause a scene cause scenes get you killed.
"What if they are not being kidnapped, but guided somewhere, Somewhere where they could do something hidden and forbidden? Look at their profiles, all of them have an overarching expertise when put together, I believe they are being sent somewhere to steal something of value, perhaps?" Lana said, Daniel knew Lana liked to reach far and grab at the straws and twist the situation to fit no matter how absurd, he liked that part about her like a little conspiracy theorist that could change her mind when confronted with the truth, which she were often and admit tingly wrong most of the time. But this time she might have a point, if they were not being kidnapped then what were they doing?
They worked in different fields which were mostly botany or farming, one was a structural engineer which was rare as hell considering the skills involved, What if they were sent to steal, no... Copy? Yes, copy something of value. "End the operation, I think i know what they are going to do, What's the nearest farm in the area? And which of these haulers have gone there at least three times," Daniel said, and his people got on it and Second put it on the screen after the data was in "One had been there four times, and no other had been there more than twice, Four means he could have transferred the couples there, but the farming station is owned by the Collective Empire, There's no way they are going to steal- Oh god, Daniel!" Second said, Daniel nodded "Call them back, We have to-"
Second pushed a button and a news story came up showing the farm being blown into pieces, separating and struck the planet below with its massive weight causing dust storms to cover the entire planet, lucky it was only a mining outpost and not housed with civilians. They all watched in silence seeing the massive explosion tear the farms apart, They had the data, and they knew the Empire did as well, this was the first shot of another nation, which he could easily see from the data of where the "kidnapped" victims came from, Earth.
Earth just secretly declared war on the Empire, and he knew the Empire were gonna find out. He shook his head "This is out of our hands now, we don't do nation vs nation, or territory against territory. I just hope the empire never finds out" They could never keep winning no matter how much they tried to, Daniel was bit sad about the situation, and he knew if his father was here that plot would have ended before it started or never materialized considering the terrifying fleets that he had, which he knew were a lot more considering, He was feeling helpless of the situation, and they returned to base which was a hidden ARK ship designed for him to do his exploring in, he could travel across galaxies with ease, and he had countless marvels of machinery he could never begin to understand.
This was his fathers legacy, and he wished he could see his face again, but he knew it would probably not happen until the vote was unlocked, which he did not know who could unfreeze it, his father had not left the key to unlock it with him which he felt bit sad about, but he might have triggered it on the day after he left considering. His mother Seyla had always been there, but she was extremely helpful and cooperative which made it bit annoying to be around, he was happy she was around, but he was being treated as a toddler always, not as a powerful warrior he was in his own respect, he docked on the ark ship which were lively filled with fellow warriors and general good people doing small things for a few people, which made their lives bearable from the horror the experienced or witnessed.
He would laugh at the absurdity of making comrades his father never did, but he never needed too either. He would simply wave a finger and everyone got in line, he knew he might have to do that someday as well if the situation got out of hand.But for now, small victories instead of none was the way to go.
Year 3153
Ricardo just put down the latest riot in the Garden system, which made it the staggering amount of 1000 this year alone, people were not happy knowing their homes were being rep
rocessed in massive amounts, they had to pay the taxes and bills just because the warriors left did not mean people did not need to pay "war tax" as they called it, Ricardo did not care for their lazy attitude, and he had ordered full bulldozing of the houses to make a statement, a few thousand neighborhoods were no farms to show that he meant it, which also meant the increasing vandalism and terrorism being done, his fields had been set on fire more counts that he could remember and walls were being cluttered on constantly with anti Vanguard messages, he was not the bad guy, but he could not afford them, he was billions of ships behind the massive looming empires that hovered around the galaxy, He could not stockpile resources fast enough and enough was word going out, people were being kicked out of the garden system by the millions which was not much considering it housed over three trillion people, people had stopped breeding like rabbits when they felt the economy could no longer support them.
Few people had held their grounds and got killed by jealous family members, or vengeful wives that were promised a life of relaxation and luxury, not uncertainty and poverty. The hope of the galaxy was declining rapidly, but nobody really wanted to leave the system for the empire or the trade federation which now houses pretty much every faction, and they were at constant war, with the losses now officially reaching a trillion, they were breeding like rabbits, and they had infrastructure that were plenty of wasteful, but they kept themselves going, Ricardo had laughed out loud watching the space farms with their inefficient nature that could not even rival the northern sector which ran bankrupt and starved to death, they were holding on the grace of a few well-made looting from old warrior stockpiles, which were abandoned when they turned to mortal, the rumor has it the empire was founded when the young explorer had found a untouched system filled with billions of ships and warehouses, forgotten by time, It made sense considering his massive fleets and resources.
He had never know the amount of micro and macro managing going on in the background, that he took for granted even his managers where overwhelmed by the cheer impossibility of calculating the costs and expanding accordingly to keep ahead of the problem, they had countless farms on planets hidden away, but they still could not support everyone forever, the yields were the same but there were no more new planets, Richardo knew the moment they started to ration the food and resources was the moment the garden system would rebel fully, keeping the market stocked internally was the key and his off system transports were severely limited, the markets used to flow in both directions at a constant unlimited speed and volume but not anymore, now there were only a few billions of tons every month for sale, and it was being bought by the empire and the trade federations, competing in food instead of credits which were useless outside the garden system, food and minerals had always been the economic backbone of this society, but without the warrior that held firm the trust in credits dwindled, he did not know what to do or how to solve this upcoming crisis, if he stopped trading food with the outside world he was inviting disaster to his systems, but if he did not stop leaking food he would have to ration, his managers were dumbfounded that there even was a limit to the amount of food, they read the numbers, and they could not believe that the amount of humans in the system could finally reach those trillions of yields.
He had to think about the future more careful, or perhaps get advice from someone that could, he contacted Yui which her sister Seyla had been missing from the paradise system for 15 years going somewhere, Yui could probably help, and he got in contact.Yui sat down on her spaceport in the south, she liked to manage things in the tiny details and not the overarching galaxy spanning that she used to do in the garden system, she had resigned quickly after the warriors left, and she knew it was just gonna increase her burden to solve the problems' humanity never been able to solve, like feeding and clothing everyone, they had time but that's it. She got a message on her screen, and she did not know what to do, she pushed the answer, and she heard his familiar voice,
"Yui, the garden system is in trouble, I need some serious advice and help here, a lot of people are going to die if we dont solve it, and i can't reach Seyla, which means i have to default to you." Ricardo said.
"Flattering, that I'm at least third on your list" she said with a frown, Ricardo just laughed "Does it matter? The other two won’t answers, and the situation is out of control, i done what i can but if i cut the markets off it won´t be good for the rest of the galaxy, and it would show weakness where there once was strength." Ricardo said.
Yui looked over the data packet and saw that there was only one option "Immediately cut the external market, announce that garden system is closing down all trading ports due to interference by foreign agents, tell them the empire and the federation had paid protesters to set fire to fields to force people to rebel when they could not get enough food, put the blame on them. Or start killing a trillion people, then you will be net-even with resources." Yui said and pushed a button ending the call, Ricardo thought about it and their commanders were in the same call listening in, they all thought for a moment. Redmond said bluntly "Make the call, tell them the empire and federation have been paying people to set fire to fields, and to punish them we will close our markets off until the situation stabilizes, and reparations have been made, they will never pay any reparations to open our markets again, so we can just keep them closed." The room agreed and they put their action into effect.
The galaxy was in an uproar knowing that they could no longer access the fat garden market, and that it will close in two months, selling out whatever it had then would be left there like a reminder, millions of people had depended on it, and humans outside the garden system finally remember who the true overlord of the galaxy was, Vanguard had kept the garden system and 99% of every food and mineral income under their toes, and they now quickly slammed that door shut closing off the federation and the empires lifelines, they could not survive to wage war or expand without the fat markets feeding their citizens, diplomats from across the galaxy traveled to meetings, and there was a stonewall that was un-negotionable, paying the penalty would strip them of all food they produced five times over, they could not even get a foot in the door, or pay in installments, markets were closed off for them and their empires would struggle to the death,
Year 3160
The alarms blared out the in the garden system, a massive empire fleet arrived at the edge of Vanguard territory and had engaged the breadbasket system where 60 earth class planets were farming constantly, it was pretty much out of the way and heavily guarded, Commander Nevil were in charge of this system, and he had never seen action in the field, but he was well seasoned in the simulators, he set his orders to engage and the massive stations that hovered the planets were opening up their mega-cannons shredding anything bigger than a battleship instantly, the empire were losing millions of ships just entering the system, but they were portaging in droves across the system opening eight new fronts every minute, he had called for backup and the battle was well underway, the portal in the system were being ambushed by a new fleet of federation design, they were shooting and bombing the portal which were fluctuating, they were losing millions of ships putting them into harms way, but they were making progress the portal dimmed and turned off since it could no longer support its active portal, only a billion ships had managed to pass through, and they were shredding the federation suicide fleet, after a few minutes the portal cracked and split in two drifting from each other, the federation fleet started to portal out of the system and the empire were doing most of the fighting, he immediately saw the plan of the empire and federation, they were gonna take this system and hold it to feed their massive population, or they were going to loot it and set it on fire, he did not know.
But this was suicide considering, but he was being extremely out manned now, and he was on the losing foot, the empire and federation might have worse weaponry and shielding, but they were on par in portal drives, their numbers were billions more considering vanguard could not simply
focus all their efforts anymore on simply military, they had a massive population quota on their back, The battle lasted for 3 days resulting in 60 looted planets, every warehouse ransacked or destroyed and the enemy making off like bandits, he had held the system, but he had lost several billions of ships, and the enemy has lost at least 800 billion ships, not counting the massive amount of people that operated the carriers that controlled the drone battleship fleet, they had won and lost at the same time, the 60 planets were looted completely and the warehouses were empty, there were more systems producing food, so they would turn over, but this attack was the sign of the second galactic war, which were now being planned, The Vanguard versus everyone else, the federation and the empire just declared war.
Ricardo was baffled at the absurdity of the situation, how did the empire and federation think this was going to end? He read the data, and they had lost more than they gained, the food transports would hurt the garden system but it would not starve them, they would simply regrow the crops stolen in a months time at most, they were a well oiled machine that operated on clockwork, this was simply an apple stolen from a tree, with an orchard behind it. Their attack did not make sense and that's why it's been so undependable, He thought about his options when he suddenly got a call from one of his officers, a man has docked on the spaceship, and he claims to be S-4XN-001 son. Ricardo raised his eyebrow at the situation and put himself into full combat gear, he did not want to be blown up by some crazed suicide bomber, he walked down the hallway seeing the officer saluting him when he approached he looked at the young man, and he knew instantly he told the truth with his presence alone, he looked like an ordinary man until you got one look into his eyes, there were wisdom hidden beyond there like vast glows that were unmistakable, he had seen those eyes from Matthias several times the few meetings he had with him in person over his lifetime, Ricardo motioned him to speak.
The Futility Wars Page 36