by T. R. Harris
He looked down at the thousands of shattered bodies littering the field below and experienced a surprising emotional detachment. He didn’t bother with trying to understand his lack of compassion for his fellow Jusepi; rather all he could think of was his legacy for generations to come. This was a major turning point for the Jusepi, and it would be Furkril who would lead them to glory and power. To that end, sacrifices had to be made, and the dead and dying on the field below would ultimately serve their purpose for the greater good of the Jusepi Tribes.
For his part, Furkril felt no guilt or shame for his actions. It was for this same greater good that he did the things he did, and with plenty of good left over for Furkril and his brood.
Chapter 9
29 Days Earlier on Earth…
A decade ago, when establishing the form of government that would lead the Human race during the construction of their stellar empire, the organizers had gone out of their way not to place a single person in charge of it all. It was argued that with Human nature as it is, this person would in essence become an emperor, and with all the trappings of power that the title would suggest. Even though there would be ample checks and balances put in place through a hybrid form of representative government, comprised of a cross between a congress and a parliament, all that power in the hands of a single person was bound to have an effect.
Instead, the organizers decided on a governing council consisting of three people; two chosen by the representatives of both chambers of the New Congress, with the third member selected by popular vote.
This arrangement worked fairly well – at least initially – until it was noticed that the two councilmembers chosen by the governing bodies often colluded to form a voting block against the lone outsider, the person selected by the people. After a few tense years of negotiation, a compromise was reached, and from then on most major decisions would be voted upon by a five-member board made up of the three Councilmembers, along with two others also drawn from the houses of government. Even though four voting members now came from the New Congress, it was very difficult to form a three-to-two coalition if the purpose was simply to dominate a particular segment of the electorate.
Even though this still left a lot of power in the hands of a few individuals, and was in reality governance by consensus, it proved to be effective, if somewhat slow and methodical.
The founders also negated some of this concentration of power by limiting Councilmembers to only one six-year term each. With this restriction, there was no need for them to cater to the wishes of special interest groups in order to raise money for reelection campaigns. They could therefore devote one hundred percent of their efforts to governing without all the usual distractions associated with fundraising and campaigning.
Even though governments around the world ceased to exist – to be replaced by the all-encompassing World Governing Authority – many people around the planet embraced the opportunity to start fresh. They were thrilled with the chance of designing a new system of law and order based on several hundred years of experience with other forms of representative democracy.
Over the next few years, the WGA would oversee an ever-growing stellar empire comprised of more aliens than Humans. Yet even from the very beginning there had never been any serious consideration given to making the member alien planets the equal of the Humans within the new government. After all, why create an empire if all you’re going to do is relinquish power to the creatures you’ve discovered and allowed to join your organization? Just from their sheer numbers, the aliens would ultimately have greater voting representation within the government if they were allowed an equal standing.
So, the Humans maintained absolute control over the growing Solar Alliance – as the empire was officially termed – and served more in the role of advisor and counselor to their alien members. They would assist in developing more prosperity and a better standard of living for their members – and almost exclusively through a plethora of Human-designed, -built and -sold products and services. Corporate Earth loved this arrangement, as did the general population who found their labor in high demand and more valuable than ever before.
Still, as a concession to the alien-rights crowd, the WGA did allow a Commission of Extraterrestrials to be established to represent the alien point-of-view before the Governing Council. But beyond that, the alien members of the Alliance had next to zero influence on the operations of the Alliance.
With the advent of gravity-drives and highly-efficient chemical engines on spacecraft, major governmental facilities were no longer exclusively located along coastal regions. With the major American cities of New York and Los Angeles having been destroyed by the Juireans years ago – along with hundreds of other foreign cities across the globe – the wide open space around the city of Phoenix, Arizona, was chosen as the seat of this new world government. Almost overnight vast spaceports sprung up in the desert surrounding the massive cluster of buildings of the WGA Complex, and the clear desert air and pleasant weather soon turned the already-thriving city into the hub of the new Solar Alliance. At its peak, nearly fifty-million Humans called Phoenix home.
In addition to the land-based Complex outside the desert city, eight incredibly huge flying disks occupied orbits around the planet, habitats for the representatives of the various alien races being incorporated into the Solar Alliance. This arrangement was a necessity, since very few of the new races discovered could tolerate Earth’s gravity. These orbiting stations were designed to accommodate the various gravity and atmospheric requirements of the alien members.
The Jusepi Consulate was located aboard one of these gigantic orbiting stations, and when word of the revolt reached Earth, the Jusepi representatives aboard showed no shock or surprise. Instead they simply surrendered themselves to the Humans without incident.
********
David Charlton was the duly-elected Representative of the People, a position which had evolved to carry more symbolic clout than seats on the Council – even though the other Members would adamantly argue there was no such distinction. With the term-limit placed on the office, Charlton was actually only the second person to hold the office, and the first to hold it in its present form for a near-full term since the re-organization efforts of seven years earlier.
Charlton was Canadian by birth, even though officially his country of origin no longer existed. With mankind now taking a more universal view when it came to their planet, it didn’t make sense to keep the world fragmented into multiple geopolitical or even ethnic designations. So borders were erased and the planet Earth became one single entity, the home planet of the Human race.
However, David Charlton would often smile when this topic came up on an official level, since he knew full-well that the people still retained their own self-identities, no matter what the maps showed or what politically-correct term d’jour was being used. One couldn’t simply legislate away thousands of years of nationalistic or ethnic identity, pride and heritage.
When the Jusepi Situation first appeared on the docket, Charlton had just returned from a tour of the three nearest member-planets in the Alliance. This had been his first trip to an alien world, and the journey had been a shock to his system. Even though he kept telling himself that these creatures had developed through entirely different evolutionary paths to his, to Charlton the experience had been so alien to his perceptions.
In fact, the trip had shaken those perceptions to the core, even though mankind had been involved with alien races for going on a dozen years already. In fact, Charlton had met more than his share of aliens as a consequence of his office. Yet this had been the first time he’d experienced them in their natural environment, and that made all the difference. And this went far beyond variances in culture, language and appearance; these beings were perfectly content with the way their societies functioned and showed very little interest in changing. In fact, to the aliens it was often the Humans who were the disgusting and vile creatures.
Charlt
on knew that the future of mankind lay among the stars – there was no turning back now. It was just that most of the people of Earth had no idea that harmonious and respectful co-existence with the alien universe was a fantasy, at least in Charlton’s opinion. The immense divide of biological and cultural differences that existed between the races could never be bridged. And it wasn’t just the Humans standing in the way. The aliens had shown absolutely no move towards an acceptance of Human culture, let alone conforming to it. To them, we would always be the aliens, just as they are to us.
David Charlton seldom engaged in such fruitless mental exercises – until recently – and he wondered how his newfound perspective would affect his decision-making. If anything, it made him more pragmatic. The universe would take care of itself, as it had long before mankind ever joined the parade.
So David Charlton would take care of the universe most-important to him – the universe of David Charlton. Beyond that, he really didn’t give a damn.
Chapter 10
David Charlton…
The meeting Charlton was to chair, addressing the Jusepi Situation – it was his turn to sit at the head of the table – was to be held in the A-4 Security Room in the massive World Headquarters Complex in the desert outside of Phoenix. Attending the meeting would be the other two Councilmembers, Aaron Johnson and Ted Hill, along with the supplemental reps from the governing bodies, Eric Benson and Kate Arnold. Even though the final decisions would be made by these five individuals, each person arrived for the meeting with their full entourage of advisors and experts. The A-4 Security Room was large, yet even now, over a hundred people were positioned behind the five seated representatives of the Human race, making for a very packed house.
Charlton called the meeting to order, and after reading a brief outline detailing the purpose for the meeting, he turned to General Russell Blake for the latest on the Jusepi Situation.
“Members of the Council, and Representatives, the situation in the Duelux system and the surrounding region of space is very serious. To date, we have lost all three of our bases, plus four smaller outposts out to around two hundred light-years from the Jusepi home system.”
“They’ve already struck that far out?” Kate Arnold asked, shocked at the news.
“Yes, Madam Representative. All Humans within that sphere have been either killed or are missing. This includes hundreds of merchants and trade representatives, as well as even a few tourists who were in the area at the time. The Jusepi have spared no one, as far as we can tell. It has turned into an overt extermination of all things Human.”
“And this all came about because of a massacre we committed on the Jusepi people?” Councilmember Johnson looked up from his notes. “It says it was a peaceful march by mainly Jusepi children.” He looked directly at the General. “I’ve seen the video; how could this have happened, General Blake?”
Charlton could see Blake inhale sharply, trying to calm his anger. For a full twenty-four hours – ever since the first videos had hit the airwaves – the military had been fending off barrage after barrage of accusatory questions regarding the attack. Billions of people across the planet, as well as countless billions of other creatures within the Solar Alliance, had seen the Jusepi pull the dead Humans from the attacking spaceship. To a vast majority of the Solar Alliance, this was proof positive as to who was behind the horrific attack.
But General Blake knew better; trying to convince the politicians in the room – plus the mass of others throughout the Arm – that had become the real challenge.
“Councilmember Johnson, I assure you no Humans were involved in the attack, contrary to what the videos show.”
“Were those not Humans pulled from that spaceship? And was that not one of your ships that crashed on the parade field?”
“The bodies pulled from the wreckage were Human, but it’s our belief that they were already dead before the crash and had been planted there by the Jusepi. Also, prior to the attack, all of our ships were accounted for, so even though the attacking vessels resembled Earth-built saucers, they were not our ships … as you call them.”
“So you’re saying the Jusepi orchestrated this entire massacre? And why would they do that?”
“Yes, we do believe that the Jusepi planned and executed this event—”
“And killed an estimated five thousand of their own people, including over four thousand children!”
“If you will allow me continue, sir.” The General was growing ever-more impatient with the grandstanding politician. “This attack took place during a mass-protest over our continued presence in the region, and it’s obvious from the size of the crowd that a majority of the Jusepi people share the feelings of the protesters. By staging an event such as this, those behind this massacre have garnered even more public support for a purging of all Humans from the region – by whatever means. It would also throw public opinion against us and in favor of the Jusepi throughout the Alliance, as is apparent even within this room.”
“I beg your pardon, General,” Johnson said as his face grew to a near-glowing red. “All you have to go by are your suspicions. I, on the other hand, have visual proof.”
“As I said, no Human ships were used in this attack, so even though Humans were pulled from the wreckage, that doesn’t prove they were at the controls of the attacking spaceship.”
“Yet can you be one hundred percent sure that all your ships were accounted for at the time of the attack? You’re here on Earth, and all of our bases in the region have since been overrun.”
General Blake looked over at Charlton, as if to say, ‘Get this asshole off my back so I can complete my report.’
“Councilmember Johnson,” Charlton said. “Could you please let the General complete his report? There will be plenty of time for questions after he’s finished.”
Johnson set his pen down on the table and held up his hands in an exaggerated display of exasperation. “Go ahead, General, by all means … finish your report.” Johnson’s tone spoke volumes, essentially saying I don’t care what the hell you have to say, you war-mongering son-of-a-bitch. I’ve already made up my mind.
So Johnson is a no vote, Charlton thought. It didn’t take a genius to figure that one out.
“Thank you,” Blake said, more to Charlton than to Johnson. “If we look beyond the initial attack and at the commandeering of our fleet, it becomes obvious that this event was planned well in advance. The charge of radiation leaks from within our fleet happened weeks before the event, and the so-called inspectors were armed with weapons and prepared to kill every Human aboard our ships. This could not have been the result of a spontaneous reaction to the massacre at the parade field. The timing doesn’t fit.”
All eyes turned to Aaron Johnson. He shuffled in his seat but remained silent.
Once the proper amount of time had passed for the humiliation to sink in, the General continued. “The Jusepi now have a fleet numbering around two- to three-hundred ships. Reports show that some of these additional spacecraft are of advanced design, similar to Human-quality vessels; however, we have not been able to detect any manufacturing facilities on any of the planets controlled by the Jusepi that would account for these new warships.”
David Charlton sat up straighter in his seat. “Are you saying they’ve been supplied with these other ships?”
“It’s the only conclusion we can reach, Mr. Charlton. They had to be built somewhere, and it wasn’t by the Jusepi.”
“Who would do this…?” Even as he asked the question, he knew the obvious answer. His heart began to pound rapidly and he was sure his face was flushing as well. Would anyone notice?
“We believe it was the Klin, Mr. Charlton.”
“Why not the Kracori … or even the Juireans?” Johnson had found his voice again.
“We believe it would be against the practice of the Kracori to relinquish control of their spacecraft to alien crews. If they had ships in the region, these would undoubtedly be manned by Kracori.
We have no evidence of this. These ships are manned by Jusepi. And the Juireans … they would have no incentive to get involved in a regional war on the opposite side of the galaxy from them, as well as risk any response we would send against allies of the Jusepi.
“This strategy fits the Klin much better,” the General continued. “They have the means of manufacturing advanced warships, yet never participate in the actual battles themselves. They are content to foment tensions and to supply the warring parties, often both sides at once.”
“So what’s their end game, General?” Ted Hill asked. Several of his advisors were chattering his ear, so he was having trouble hearing the General’s full presentation. Eventually he turned to his advisors and told them – in no uncertain terms – to back off.
“The Jusepi or the Klin, Mr. Hill?”
“Both.”
“If the Klin are behind this revolt, and they are supplying the Jusepi with weapons and materiel, then they may believe the Jusepi could become a threat to us. The Klin would like nothing more than the destruction of the Human race.”
“Are the Jusepi really that big of a threat?”
“Not at all, Mr. Hill … even with the help of the Klin.”
“You sound confident, General Blake,” Representative Aaron Johnson said, contempt thick in his voice.
“Mr. Johnson, our fleet is over four-thousand ships strong; theirs less than three hundred. And with the recent intel regarding the location of the Kracori homeworld of Elision, we’ll be increasing our strength in preparation for that campaign.”
“Could these two events be related?” Charlton asked. “I mean the coincidence of the Jusepi uprising right at the time we’re preparing to attack Elision?”
“That is a very real possibility, if the Klin and the Kracori are allies again.”
