by Trevor Wyatt
Their weapons were painfully primitive. Their ships were frail as paper. It was a miracle their ships didn’t crumple under the force and stress that accompanied faster than light travel. The consensus was that this was going to be the shortest war the Sonali people had ever fought. We were sent forth to make memorable victories and even perfect someone of our theoretical tactics on the battle field. We didn’t take the war serious, the same way a fight between a Sonali and an insect is a joke for the Sonali—this was how we felt about the Terrans.
And for the first few months, we wasted them by the numbers. We attacked their colonies and laid siege to their supply lines. Yet, they survived.
Six months later, we were still at war. It wasn’t as though the Terrans were getting better. They were still dying from one corner of the galaxy to another. However, it seemed as if this species existed in unending supply. It seemed as though their courage—or should I say foolishness—knew no bound.
After eight months the war college continued to study why the war had prolonged past the three month period. We were told that we had underestimated the Terrans’ resolve. We were told that though they had inferior equipment, they had some of the brilliant minds and these brilliant minds were the ones keeping the war going.
Two names that stood supreme in these discussions were: Captain Jeryl Montgomery of the TUS Seeker, who made first contact with Legate Ghosal, who has now been promoted to fleet commander. The other name was No One, who worked with a space pirate. A great bounty was placed on their heads and the Legate to bring in any of these two would receive a double promotion immediately.
After the whole meeting, the new estimate was another four months, which would make it one year since the conflict descended into an all-out intergalactic war. By this time we had lost countless lives to the Terran Armada’s gruella tactics of hitting and running. Colonies had been devastated. They were doing to us what we were doing to them.
But four more months we were told, and this would all be over. We also told to take this war with all seriousness. Playtime was over. We were losing lives and needed to end this war. Every legate went away with full assurance that the war would definitely come to an end in four months. In fact, we were already making plans for our after victory celebration.
I had booked a holiday trip to the Drupadi home world, where five Drupadi women were waiting for me. Sex with one Drupadi woman could make up for a lifetime of celibacy. Imagine what six-some with five Drupaid women would do? I hoped to use the money I would make from plundering the Terrans to have myself a Drupadi slave woman.
Alas, this was not the case after four months.
Now a year has passed in the conflict, and the war shows no sign of abating. I realize that the commander may have a point. I think my view of the Terrans may very well be misinformed. Maybe this has been the reason for our failures. We underestimate them too much. When we think they will bow out, they come with more force. When we think they will stay down, they rise up with greater violence.
Something about the Terran spirit begins to confound me. I look around the base. Why am I really here? Why would the upper echelon of Sonali Navy command relegate a whole Dreadnought Legate to hold down a base? The answer is simple. They are afraid of the Terrans. If the Terrans are as weak as we say they are, why do we think they can take back this base?
My state is a sorry one. A grounded Dreadnought Legate. Ha! That must be the joke of the century. My very present state is a testament of the fact that the Terrans might not be as inferior as we think they are.
Now my communications expert is effectively telling me that I might be facing a full blown Terran invasion from within the planet. I sit up to listen carefully.
“We can’t allow them take back this base,” I whisper, more to myself than to anybody.
However, the commander says, “Affirmative, sir.”
Not just because the Sonali needs the base, but because if I should lose this base I can kiss my promotions goodbye, and that’s if I’m not relegated to an ordinary Legate.
“What do you need?” I say. “What do you think we can do? I need you to isolate that signal, hack it and tell me what they’re saying, and find the person who implanted that device.”
The commander is about to speak, but then pauses. He thinks for a moment, before saying, “There may be a way for me to find the device. It involves recalibrating the communications systems back on the Destroyer.”
“How long do you need?” I ask.
“An hour at most.”
“Good. Get it done. Get me answers,” I say.
The commander nods and leaves the Ops center.
“Put the entire base on alert and get me the chief security officer!” I yell the moment the communications officer is out of the Ops center.
A computer voice begins to announce alert, telling all personnel to be vigilant and be ready to go to full on battle mode. I know that the security detachment would begin to mobilize according to protocol and triple the guards at every critical point and junction in the base right now. The Dreadnought will be powering its weapons system for orbital bombardment on soft and hard targets that are distinguishable.
Ten minutes later, the security chief, a lieutenant comes to attentions before my dais.
“Get your men ready,” I say. “I want you to scour this base for any weird device that doesn’t belong. Also, check the human prison cells to see if anyone has escaped. And send raiding parties all across the planet to search for signs of Terrans. Go now.”
The security chief snaps to a salute and leaves my presence.
“Raul!” I bark.
No response.
“Raul!”
A Sonali scurries into the Ops center and comes to stand before me.
“Come closer,” I say.
He comes to within whispering distance.
I whisper to him, “Prepare my personal shuttle for departure. If this thing goes sideways, I want to be able to live to tell the tale.”
Raul chuckles sinisterly, nods once, and leaves the Ops center.
Almost immediately, someone says, “Sir, secure communications coming from the Destroyer. It’s Commander Nashiru, sir.”
“Put him on screen,” I say.
The large view screen takes up the entire wall ahead of me. The commander fills the screen. His eyes look straight into mine.
“Sir, I’ve found the device. I’ve sent the coordinates to the security chief. I’ve also found the person who installed it. It’s one of the slaves we have working for us. Do you want me to return to the base?”
“No,” I say. I might be returning to the Dreadnought if things go bad here, so I want you alive. Of course I don’t say that.
“Stay on the ship and see if you can find out what was being communicated and to whom. Ops center out.”
The communication goes dead.
It’s as important to find out what has been communicated as it is important to find the device and end the communication. If the Terrans are mounting a counter attack to take back this base, then they must have outside help. The reason is simple. If they take this base, we can just reduce it to rubbles from the orbit.
They’ll need to take out the Dreadnought, which is why they must have been communicating with some external force. Maybe the Armada is mobilizing to take my Dreadnought down. I can’t allow that to happen.
About ten minutes later, someone says, “Sir, the security chief has just checked in. They have found the device and they have apprehended the Terran slave who planted it. He is requesting for further instruction.”
“Destroy the device and bring the Terran here,” I say.
When the Terran is brought to me, he is already brutalized and bloody. His clothes have become rags soaked wet in his sweat and blood.
He is thrown to my feet. He looks at me, defiant, with his head held high. I am almost impressed. I can see the fighting spirit within him. I can see the fierceness, and even though he is beneath me and I am a
bove him, I am truly afraid of him. No man with that thing I see in his eyes can easily be defeated.
I only have one question to ask him. “Why?”
He laughs, his teeth red with blood. “The storm is coming…”
“We will stop whatever is coming,” I reply.
He shakes his head. “No, you won’t. Because we will keep coming until you all are dead, you blue-skinned freak!”
At the last word, there is a mighty explosion that rocks the entire Ops center. The explosion throws me to the ground, where I hit my head against the floor and almost fall unconscious. As I try to make my way back to my feet, the entire Ops center descends into chaos with the sirens blaring and the light flashing red.
The computer has already taken us into battle alert. We are under attack.
“It’s too late,” he says. “Prepare to die.” Then he pulls out a concealed knife and lunges for me. I double back and slam into my chair, nowhere to run.
The man is almost at my beck when I hear the familiar sound of a blaster and the smells of charred flesh. The Terran human falls forward into my body, dead. I push him aside and pick myself up to my feet.
“What’s happening?” I yell.
The officers in the Ops center are still recovering. Someone says, “We are under attack.”
“From where?” I ask.
“From everywhere, sir,” the tactical officer says. “The bomb that went off was in the tunnel. It has taken down the seal, and now an army of Terran Marines are pouring into the base. There’s also a large force outside the main entrance. They’ve taken out our sentries and have made their way into the base.”
“Fight back!” I yell. The security officer who is still waiting in the Ops center for my order jumps into action, speaking into his comms and commanding the soldiers to repel the intruders.
I am not used to land wars. I’m a naval Legate, not a land commander. I don’t know the first thing about leading a land army.
“Put everything on screen,” I say. “I want to watch everything.”
The screen dissolves into two partitions to show a battle in the main entrance bay and another in the central receiving hub that connects to the tunnel of networks. The Terran invasion has been stalled at these two places and the fighting is fierce. Bullets and laser fires flashes everywhere with screams and bloodcurdling yells renting the air and filling the Ops center.
I can barely make sense of all the fighting. The fighting stretches for a full hour with the Terrans bringing wave after wave of onslaught. At a time, I call Raul in to leave because it seems as though we are going to lose. But then the Terrans are outnumbered and outgunned. Soon, the Terrans are defeated. No one runs. This was their final stand, and they went out in a blaze of glory.
As the security chief announces that the threat has been neutralized, I rise to my feet in full respect and admiration of the Terran Union soldiers. I am overwhelmed by their zeal and spirit.
I stand corrected. The Terrans are not weak. They are very strong, as is their spirit.
“Sir, Commander Nashiru is hailing us.”
“On screen,” I say.
The commander fills the screen. “I decoded the message sir,” he says.
I say, “No need. We already squashed their attack.”
“I think you might want to hear this,” he says. “You may have a change of heart about the Terrans and maybe you can change the hearts of the other Legates and take this war seriously, otherwise it will not only stretch past another year, but longer.”
“Go ahead, commander,” I say.
Commander Nashiru tells me that the leader of the Terran resistance here was in contact with a battle fleet commander named Admiral Flynn. I know the admiral all too well. The resistance leader was requesting support, because they had finally been able to plan an attack on the base to retake it. They needed support to take out the Dreadnought or draw it out of the system. Admiral Flynn’s reply was that they couldn’t spare even a ship, talk more of a fleet for a border colony.
The resistance leader then tells the admiral that they will still try and take the base. Admiral Flynn then tells him his sacrifice will not be forgotten.
Commander Nashiru ends by saying, “they attacked knowing that they will not survive. Even if they took the base, they knew they were going to die by orbital bombardment.”
“That’s foolishness,” I say instinctively.
“No, sir,” Commander Nashiru says. “That’s hope. That’s why they have been so stubborn. Hope, sir. Hope. That’s their secret. That’s why they will never give up. Commander Nashiru out.”
Hope. That’s the reason why this war is going to be a long one.
Hope.
The Pax Aeterna Universe
Pax Aeterna is the name of the science fiction universe created by Trevor Wyatt. It explores humanity as it explores and grows in its journey into the stars, taking its place amongst other species in the universe. The series features around human conflicts, internal as well as those external.
Included you will find an excerpt from the Encyclopedia Aeterna.
Encyclopedia Aeterna Volume 1
Timeline of the Terran Union
2024: Formal treaty to set a 25 year term towards political integration between the United States, Canada, and Mexico in an extension of NAFTA. This was agreed to in the backdrop of The Accords of Expedition amongst member nation states of the European Union for greater political integration by 2040.
The first private spacecraft to carry passengers into space, and allow them to spend one week aboard a private space station operated and owned by the Taylor Corporation was launched. The passengers paid $3.5 million and there were 15. They were returned successfully to earth after a period of one week in space.
2025: Realizing that the integration between the United States, Canada, and Mexico would lead to a large superpower and with the addition of a greater political union between the member nations of the European Union the countries of Asia decided that only one course of action existed for them; a political union. The countries of China, India, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia decided to form a political union with the goal of full integration by the year 2054. The seat of power for the Asian Bloc sat in the city state of Hong Kong.
2026: The Asian Bloc began to exert its influence through a series of trade deals with nations on its periphery. The actions from the Asian block were opposed by the North American Confederation. Tensions rose over determining territorial waters as well as shipping routes. Trade embargoes were placed upon a series of Asian Bloc nations by the North American Confederation. Violence continued to escalate in the Middle East as the countries of Iran and Saudi Arabia sought to increase their spheres of influence within the region. These moves were opposed by both the European Union as well as the North American Confederation but were supported by the Asian Bloc.
An economic contagion spurred by cheap money caused by low interest rates and sustained by a high rate of inflation began to ravage the American industrial and lower skilled service industries. The United States government, in an effort to prevent widespread economic damage began to severely limit the ability of corporations to bring in foreign workers.
Economic hardship persisted in the European Union which saw unemployment rates at historically high rates of 15-20%.
2027: The United Nations sought to lower the level of discourse between the North American Confederation and the Asian Bloc. Negotiations and summits were set to discuss the issues that had caused one third of the world to be embargoed by the other two thirds. The negotiations failed to achieve any substantive results. The leaders of the Asian Bloc began to impose sanctions upon nations within the Asian continent and surrounding areas who were nonmember states in a bid to bring them into the collective sphere of influence. The countries of New Zealand and Australia were supported by the North American Confederation. Australia and New Zealand became a battleground for an economic proxy war between the Asian Bloc and N
orth American Confederation. Foreign direct investment began to be tied to political cooperation by the Asian Bloc. The North American Confederation reacted in similar fashion. By the end of 2027, the economy of Australia had contracted 5% due to a severe financial crisis caused by tensions in the region.
The Russian Federation announced that by 2030 they would have a scientific and exploratory base on the moon.
2028: The advent of large-scale solar energy collection wreaked havoc on the oil-based economies of the Middle East. Two countries were poised to pivot. Saudi Arabia and Iran. From 2017 to 2024 these two countries had built an infrastructure designed to capture and harness the power of the sun. Their neighbors were not so fortunate and the Middle East long accustomed to funding and placating extremist groups through massive social programs and welfare spending now found itself cash-strapped and debt ridden. Unemployment and structural imbalances in the economy caused mass unrest. From 2025 to 2027 the region had been subjected to many droughts and extreme weather. Entire villages were abandoned as environmental refugees moved to the cities.
Severe environmental events including hurricanes and flooding led to the creation of millions of environmental refugees from Bangladesh and the western portion of the Indian subcontinent. Environmental refugees found very little welcome within the Asian Bloc considering that Bangladesh was not a member state. Massive storms, droughts, cyclones, and flooding in the Southwest regions of China led to a destabilizing influence that resulted in the Xin Pi rebellion. The brutal manner in which the rebellion was dealt with by the Asian Bloc received global condemnation and criticism. Warnings were sent by the North American Confederation and the European Union that the brutal manner of the suppression would not be tolerated. The two rival powers saw this as a means to delegitimize the Asian Bloc.
