by John Dizon
Alternately, the totalitarian Deltans forced everyone to work for the State at a set wage and equal benefits. The Empire was just as uncompromising, though more of their budget went to military expense instead of social programs. Religious indoctrination was as the opiate of the masses, and all who resisted were liquidated.
"What of the rumors on Starnet that Captain Drachna is hunting for us with an Imperial starship?" Xamon lowered his voice.
"That is nothing but capitalist propaganda," Misch dropped back into his defensive rhetoric. "You know that enemies of the State will use every deception to further their agenda. First of all, Drachna is a member of the Old Guard, all of whom have been eliminated by the imperialist regime. He no longer exists. And even if he did, do you believe the Empire would authorize the use of a starship to search for us? If he had gone insane and commandeered a ship according to the reports, what crew would have gone along with him? Upon return every single one of them would be subjected to a slow, grisly death."
"It's what's going to happen to us," Xamon's voice trembled.
"Nonsense!" Misch bolted from his seat and walked over to a far corner. "Once that girl makes the video, we will be hailed as national heroes. She cannot hold out forever. She has been in solitary confinement for nearly a month, living on a starvation diet. She has been subjected to constant psychological and physical stress. After coming from her sheltered environment, eventually this will become more than she can endure. Time is on our side, let us remain patient."
"I worry about you, I worry about us," Xamon put his arms around the waist of his domestic partner. Though the Republic had set a hardline against homosexuality, they disregarded it in the military due to its exclusion of women. Like ancient Sparta, the Republic saw it as the lesser evil facing troops deployed in outer space for years at a time.
"We will be fine, my dear," Misch glared around at the deck hands, who busily diverted their attention elsewhere. "We have not come this far to meet with failure and exile. This is our time, our destiny. This girl will be the means for our advancement, our golden opportunity for our future together. Yeoman Chon, let the Commander see what we have in store for our guest."
The stout woman came forth with a small plastic container. Xamon's skin crawled as he beheld a tilton in the box. The tilton was a mutated palmetto bug, genetically deformed by radiation exposure. It was six centimeters in length and two centimeters thick, with long hairy legs and the head of a horsefly. The ugly insect was coated with a sticky substance that caused terrible itching, exacerbated by bites from the creature.
"I have a dozen of these insects that I will release in her cell after we extinguish the lights. We will restore the lights once they are crawling all over her. I have never met a female who could stand the touch of an insect. Wouldn't you agree, Yeoman Chon?"
The heavy-set woman cringed at the thought.
~+~
The farming colony on the Herne asteroid had begun to stir just hours earlier. Established over three years ago, it was a haven for Class III citizens with no prospects other than bare survival in the resettlement colonies. Living under government subsidies, they were provided with basic agricultural machinery and a limited budget for trade and commerce. The farmers worked from sunrise to sunset in the artificial atmosphere, laboring to stimulate crop growth from the barren soil.
It was around noon when the workers took their lunch break. They sipped water, doused themselves and rested their bones as their womenfolk came onto the field with soups, stews and bread. It was the high point of the day in most cases. At the end of the day, most of the men were too tired to do anything but return to their homes and sleep until dawn. Yet they shared the dream of turning a profit and one day being able to hire others to carry on the work.
On this day, there was an ominous droning noise coming from the mountainside. At first they thought it was a government supply ship, but knew it was far too early in the month. They watched in unison as transport crafts appeared from the clouds, slowly descending until they landed just outside the fields.
They watched in bewilderment as they saw four-man teams emerging from the transports. They wore black helmets, face masks and cloaks over their combat suits. They carried xaser weapons and bore the insignia of the Dark Knights. It was a black rectangle with a pentagram against a white circle. One man carried a banner which he brought over to the flagpole where the Alliance flag was flown.
"Hail, friends," the leader of the colony stepped forth. "We are having our midday meal, but we have enough to share. I'm sure you have traveled a distance to get here."
"We are here under the authority of the Order of the Dark Knights," a lieutenant came to face him. "Our mission is to confirm your loyalty to the powers that rule over this Solar System."
"We are loyal citizens of the Beta Quadrant, and have pledged our allegiance to the Terranean Alliance," the man seemed puzzled.
"And which god do you serve?" the soldier demanded.
"Why, we are Believers," the man was reverent. "We worship the One True God."
"Sun worshippers," he said mockingly, turning to his colleagues. "You have been deceived by your government, tricked into following an ancient belief system that no longer exists. Can't you see how they have abandoned you, cast you aside in this wasteland where you will work until you die for nothing?"
"Our labor is beginning to yield results," the man smiled softly. "We have finally come to the point where we have surplus crops to trade at the market. We may not have more than enough, but we do have enough to give to you and your men for your journey."
"You give to us?" the commando was derisive. "We have ample supplies of meat and dairy products on our ship. It is we who come to give to you. Today we bring freedom, liberation from the weak and useless system that enslaves you."
"We are free citizens," the man asserted. "We have come here of our own accord to raise our families and build a future."
"You are building on barren ground, citizen," the soldier hissed. "We are sons of Belial, the god of this universe. We now give you the opportunity to declare your allegiance to Belial and turn away from your false idolatry."
"What is this?" the man was confused. "Religious freedom is one of our basic rights. Perhaps you have reason to stand against the government, but you cannot ask us to deny our God."
"You are a fool," the soldier raised his weapon. "Either your head will be lowered to the ground as you bow in reverence before Belial, or it will roll across the dirt as we cut it off your neck."
"I will not deny my God," the man was steadfast. "Do as you will, but let my wife and children not see this."
"They will bear witness to your foolishness before they are given the choice between life and death."
"Take my hand, O God, I am coming home," he said as he was forced to his knees by another fighter.
At once there were a series of explosions in the sky, followed by another buzzing noise more shrill and insistent than the first. The multitude watched in astonishment as a swarm of drones descended on the field as a metallic cloud. The commandos were shocked as the drones began firing xaser bursts at them, burning as molten lava upon impact. They tried to fire back but the drones flew directly at them when hit by a xaser beam. The drones exploded against their victims, and soon the field was covered with dead soldiers and wrecked drones.
Eventually a black shuttlecraft came down from the sky, and black-clad soldiers bearing the Scorpion insignia rushed onto the field. They kicked the miniature aircraft out of their path and stepped over the corpses, training their rifles on the terrified colonists. At length they made way for a helmeted man in black, his black cloak swirling in the wind.
"Who else is here?" he demanded. "Are there any Deltan troops here?"
"Deltans?" the leader trembled. "No, kind sir. Only these soldiers. They claimed to be the sons of Belial. They were about to kill us. You saved our lives."
"Sons of Belial," the man scoffed. "The offspring of idiots. Are yo
u certain they were not here in pursuit of Deltans?"
"No sir. We have seen no Deltans here."
"Unfortunately I cannot leave any evidence of our presence behind," the man said. "You will have to evacuate this asteroid before we destroy it. You have fifteen minutes."
"Sir, we have no means of escape. Please spare our homes."
"The Betans will recompense you under their Resettlement Act," the man replied. "Are those not shuttlecrafts parked nearby?"
"Yes, sir, but where will they take us?"
"I saw a warship hovering above the clouds. Can you fly one?"
"Yes, but they only carry sixty people at most. There are a hundred of us."
"We will carry the rest to the nearest populated asteroid. From there you can summon assistance. All I demand from you is your solemn oath that you and yours will never admit to having seen us."
"You have my word," the man agreed.
"Good," the man in black nodded. "Lieutenant, escort the people to the shuttlecrafts. Give the order to the crew to stand by for the destruction of this asteroid in fifteen minutes."
The soldier saluted his superior and proceeded to follow orders.
The colonists watched in awe as Captain Grav Drachna returned to his aircraft and ascended into the clouds.
CHAPTER TWO
M arcella Stone remembered her last days in the solar system of planet Earth as a young girl. She had been brought to the assembly hall on Charon by her father, Abraham Stone. He was the President of the Allied Federation, having finally signed the Treaty of Charon that ended World War III. The Allies and the Axis had waged an interplanetary thermonuclear war that destroyed every planet in the system. With mankind on the verge of extinction, its leaders met in a desperate effort to preserve the entire human race.
She remembered the fierce Scythians, the stoic Asians and the businesslike Europeans who came together with her father's contingency of Americans. The war began long before she was born. As the Earth was destroyed its populations were relocated to space colonies where they regrouped to join the battle anew. Its leaders made new alliances, loyalties shifted and internecine rivalries broke out into civil wars and political upheavals. These four groups represented the last demographics of what was once the United Nations.
"This plan is unbalanced as it is unreasonable," the Scythian leader spoke up after President Stone made a final proposal. "Granted, the scientific principles are sound. Our engineers confirmed that your converters are able to process the nobelium fuel in propelling your spaceships into light speed. We have also validated the construction and design of your ships in being able to endure flight at such speeds. However, to launch directly into a black hole? The chances of disappearing into oblivion are unacceptable."
"Gentlemen," Stone insisted, "our scientists have proven the theory of hyperspace, that black holes not only absorb energy but they act as portals leading to other places in the universe. If we are traveling at light speed, we are both entering and exiting the black hole as a stream of light. Our vessels would be refracted into a different solar system where we could begin anew. If we enter in the same sequence, chances are we will all emerge in the same system."
"This is placing too much at risk," the Asian leader surmised. "Suppose we do not end up in the same place? Suppose one or more of our fleets are separated from the rest, to be cut off from the rest of civilization forevermore? Even worse, suppose a sizable portion of the fleet is shipwrecked or otherwise damaged in emerging from the hole? If we are tossed into the midst of a cosmic storm, a meteor shower, an asteroid field, without hope of aid or assistance…it would be a fate worse than if we never emerged at all."
"I believe that the European Alliance will stand by our allies and continue to abide by their decisions and better judgment," their minister announced. "Consider this above all, my friends. We have irreparably damaged our solar system and its destruction is imminent. Black holes are opening up throughout the system and there is a massive void at its edge that threatens to engulf the Sun itself. We are as victims trapped in a burning building. We are faced with the option of jumping into emergency nets several meters below. Yes, we run the risk of plummeting to our deaths. Yet we must ask ourselves whether we will condemn the people of our nations to remain here and be consumed alive?"
"And how will the new system be apportioned, to whom will go the spoils of the war?" the Scythian asked. "Shall a new Earth go to the Allies before the Axis? There is no doubt that a new conflict will erupt should there be but one life-sustaining planet. Who will decide whose nations should be forced to continue their existence in artificially-sustained atmospheres?"
"This shall never be," Stone was adamant. "We can live together on a new Earth just as we shared our mother planet. It was greed and mistrust that caused the war. We must learn from our mistakes for the sake of our people, for the sake of civilization. When we come out of hyperspace, we will find a suitable landing place from where we will pick up the pieces and begin anew. We will not rest until every nation finds a new home, until every person has a place where they can live their lives and prosper. We all vacated Earth when it imploded, and we all found havens on other planets and continued to survive. Only we continued our acts of aggression against one another, we repeated our mistakes. Let us move forward as friends and neighbors. Let us save our civilizations before it is too late."
Eventually the nations agreed to follow each other consecutively into the black hole near Pluto. It was decided that each nation would get their pick of a region to resettle in the order which they entered the void. As it was, every leader was terrified that he might be leading his people into oblivion. The Americans chose to go first, followed by the Europeans, the Scythians and the Asians. They would divide the new system, if they found one, into quadrants. They would be named Alpha, Beta, Ceta and Delta. It would be subject to change if any one region was found inhabitable.
Marcella remembered the American fleet going into the black hole, with the starship Enterprise taking the lead. She remembered her father holding her hand as they sat on deck alongside the admiral, his palm moist with tension. It was a lot like driving through a tunnel, and after the roaring and shaking subsided, they were surrounded by a beautiful new galaxy. There was a long silence followed by hugs and cheers, and soon the entire fleet containing six million people were present and accounted for.
They soon found that each quadrant consisted of four planets which had their own moons and asteroid fields. Alpha was the most desirable region, and it was not begrudged as all the other nations feared they were following the Americans to their doom. Beta was also a favorable quadrant though two of its planets were relatively distant from the sun. Ceta's home planet was cold and dark though in closer proximity to its neighboring planets. Delta's planets were prone to lunar eclipses and cosmic storms, but their orbits somehow provided them with significantly warmer climates.
It seemed as if the greatest danger was among the native populations as great conflicts erupted. Alpha nearly exploded into civil war until Stone enacted the Independence Act, freeing all American coalitions to resettle around the planet as they chose. The military stood behind Stone, and he reorganized his coalition in the country of Americana. They reconvened Congress and lifted the suspension of the Constitution of the United States. He then made an offer to the other coalitions to join him in forming a world government. Shortly after, the Allied Federation was born.
Her father died of radiation poisoning just over a decade after the World Congress was convened. She was in her fifties when her father's Cabinet encouraged her to assume the role as President. She was familiar with her father's ways, and had his closest friends and supporters who would advise her and jealously defend her. She accepted the position, considering the fact her own husband had died and her daughter was attending University. She would devote the rest of her life to her service to her nation. Only she had no idea how consequential her decisions would prove to be as time progressed.
> "My opinions may not be very popular, ma'am," the Secretary of Defense fumed, "but I've said it before and I'll say it again. Those damn Scorpions are shoving us hard, and we need to push back while we've got the initiative. They've got outposts in Beta and Delta and they're looking at us next. If they get control of the asteroids closest to the sun, they'll find a way to harness its solar power and filter the rest of us out. Not to mention muscling us out of our colonies in outer space. We need to make our move and make it soon."
"We can't afford to impose sanctions until we address the bigger issues," the Secretary of State replied. "There's a System-wide radiation crisis that needs to be handled. It's coming from everywhere. There's leaking nuclear reactors throughout the system, and it's not just in one quadrant. We've got leaking ships, leaking dump sites, and leaking weapons facilities. Frankly speaking, we're in danger of breeding a next generation of freaks. The animals we brought from the Old System are barely recognizable. Half of the newborns in the outer settlements are mutants. Plus we're destroying whatever resources may be available throughout the quadrant. What's more important, letting them have a few asteroids or allowing them to go on poisoning our entire system?"
"Everybody's focusing on these long-term problems while we've got a serious terror threat looming on our doorstep," the Attorney General snapped. "Our citizens are being kidnapped, tortured and murdered for their refusal to convert to demonism. The Dark Knights have terror cells on asteroids all along the Betan border and continue to conduct excursions across our border. I understand that we're trying to avoid military conflict, but these are small, organized gangs that are preying on our settlements. Maybe if we can spare a billion credits and hold off on building another IPM (*Interplanetary Missile) or cleaning up another radiation leak, I can get around to putting those black-robed bastards away!"
