The Futility Wars

by Magnus Thollander

  She walked into the bar and people started to whisper to each other and some even pointed at her, She sat down at the bar and ordered a neon-blue alcoholic beverage. She sipped the drink and walked to a window seat and looked out, she was amazed that it was an actual window instead of a vidscreen. Yui could see the light of a energy shield around the station blocking debris or trash from colliding with the hull. She let out a sigh and just stood there drinking and thinking. "Yui, is it? Quite a celebrity these days with your antics, Heh. Almost want a autograph to keep in my apartment." the young man said while laughing with a smile.

  Yui turned around with a frown. She wanted to roundhouse kick him in his shiny white teeth. "I can help you with your "problem", easily. As long as you do a job for me, then everything will be settled." the young man said. Yui looked at him and thought he was joking at first, but she had dealt with many different kinds of people together with her sister, she knew this man spoke the truth. "What do you want me to do? Sleep with you? Not gonna happen." said Yui.

  The man smiled even wider and then sat down on the couch and slapped the seat opposite of him. She sat down and sipped her drink. "A simple thing you have to do for me, You just have to travel to the northern sector and bring back something." said the young man. Yui was intrigued and asked about the object "What is it that i will be transporting?" she questioned.

  "Something my father left for me, To everyone else it's just a piece of scrap, a box made out of steel, it's rusty and worthless to everyone except our family. It's incredibly important to get it here. My father travels the galaxy like a playboy living on someone else teat, but that box is paramount. He's currently living lavishly with his newest wife in the northern sector, and he will probably be there for at least 10 years, I have already requested the box from him, and he gave me coordinates to pick it up. It's in his summer home." said the young man.

  Yui was beginning to weight the pros and cons and thought she was getting shafted extremely badly, it would take her at least 15 years for the trip back and forth. She could probably convince the warrior to her point of view in at least 10 years. "Enough! Why is the box important or i will never get it, i rather not waste 15 years of my life going there, i rather go back to central." she said with a harsh tone.

  The man chuckled "My father is the little brother of this station, That box was handmade by him and given as a gift when he was born. It took him serious effort for him to make it." the young man said.

  Yui was shocked and after double checking the information she found the connection between the young man and then lead to the warrior. She agreed instantly she would get the box. The young man smiled. Yui contacted Seyla, and she agreed that the box was important, so she went to pickup her sister, A few months passed, and they were finally united, Seyla landed her cargo ships and bought all the goods she could haul and took all battleships and cargo ships and set course for the outpost to trade.

  They docked at the outpost a year later and unloaded their cargo, they set course for the northern sector they managed to score a lucrative trade deal with the manager to ship the candy in their cargo hold directly to their headquarters in Sol, she earned a few hundred thousand credits extra, and she was still passing by the system so it was a win-win, the crew was happy when they entered Sol and bought plenty of goods to ship back to their families, Seyla agreed to fill a cargo ship with the crews stuff and a lot of clothes, perfumes and various goods were bought to be sent back to their girlfriends and wives.

  It was extremely uneventful the central and the northern sector are the most crowded areas in the galaxy, there were zero empty systems, and they got more warnings from "warriors" they could handle, they just apologize ask for directions and move on. The crew was happy drinking alcohol and sucking down on snacks, and enjoy the latest shows, games and movies since they were in a high communication's area.

  They entered the system and docked with the space station, They walked to Richards appartment, and he simply opened the door, this apartment was massive "Yeah' you girls like it? It's real marble. Cost me a fortune to import, ah! Mind the carpet it's REAL silk, not that cheap synthetic stuff." he babbled.

  Seyla and Yui pretended to be impressed and asked question about his collection. They entered a room with a safe. "Ah! Here we go, Heh. You girls have to be careful about this box it's bit fragile, I made a special case to keep it safe. Heh. You know my brother made it for me when i was born, and i only met him once in my life, dont even remember his face or his voice. Was too little i think. Anyway, my little son wants it after he heard about its significant value. My brother is a warrior that made the improved elixir after all, extremely rich i should know. He keeps sending me money every year, basically every credit earned in Sol goes straight to my pocket, When a man has unlimited cash he needs to seek excitement in collecting and things." he said while pulling out a ancient briefcase with a padded interior.

  "Now, i want to warn you, if you try to steal this object and use it yourself to try to "blackmail" my brother he will kill you, and yes he will kill you." Richard smiled and handed Seyla the briefcase.

  "Now, unless both of you want to enjoy my solid gold Jacuzzi, we are done here?" he said while loosening his bathrobe. Seyla and Yui quickly left the apartment. They walked back to the hangar and saw a solid gold miniature train passing by the hallway with a few kids on it, They shook their heads and headed back to the south.

  Year 2360

  The Titan unlocked from the super-shipyard and a accompanying superior battleship fleet of 100 million snuggled up to it, He had made a real fleet finally instead of relying on the alien designs, this was pure his. Engines, power,weapons, shields and targeting systems, It was his proof of humanity struggle. He made a true human war fleet that could whip the alien's asses in a 1 on 1 battle, He assumed the alien race had their own designs and weapon systems, but he knew he was probably far ahead since the aliens had not mentioned the A1 or the B1 elements. He took aim at the nearby moon and charged his Titans super weapon and fired, A beam of light with the light of a thousand suns hit the planet and set it on fire, It was a beautiful spectacle of destruction and when he saw the beam dip into the planetary core he turned it off, He was confident he could pierce the planet if he kept going. He estimated he could fire across the system with the same effect, his battleships were filled with plasma weapons while his Titan was all range.

  The Titan would handle the enemy from afar and the battleship handle the closest ones, But that was relative his plasma weapons still out ranged the alien ships by a lot. He got an emergency summon from the council, and he connected to his shell. "WARRIORS, I HAVE NEWS OF TRAITOROUS ACTIVITY OF THE EARTH COUNCIL, THEY HAVE ATTACKED THE EASTERN SECTOR AND DESTROYED ALL THE WARRIORS RELATED TO THE LUNA, MARS AND FREE SPACE COLONIES AND HAVE NOW ENTERED A WAR BETWEEN HUMANS IN SOL." broadcast a shell.

  "I HAVE ALSO SEEN THIS DESTRUCTION FIRST HAND, I AM A WARRIOR THAT ARE BOUND TO THE LUNA COLONY, I WAS LUCKY THAT I WAS NOT LISTED IN THEIR WARRIOR DATABASE, SINCE ALL THE WARRIORS ON THAT LIST HAD BEEN TERMINATED IN A COORDINATED ATTACK BY EARTH. LUNA, MARS AND THE FREE SPACE COLONIES, IN SOL THEY ARE NOW IN EXTREME DANGER, EARTH HAS REMODELED THE BATTLESHIPS TO BE CONTROLLED BY HUMANS AND NOW HAVE A SUPERIOR ADVANTAGE WE COULD NOT PREDICT, I AM ASKING FOR A VOTE TO CONDEMN EARTH'S ACTION AND SUPPORT A PERMANENT CEASEFIRE AT THIS MOMENT, PLEASE VOTE NOW." The votes chimed in at 51% and the President of Earth was connected to call.

  "PRESIDENT OF EARTH, YOUR ACTIONS ARE COUNTER-INTUITIVE TO THE DEFENSE EFFORT OF MILKY WAY GALAXY AND ALL HUMANS, YOU ARE TO CEASE ALL HOSTILE ACTIONS AND WAIT FOR A INVESTIGATION IN CRIMINAL COURT AFTER EVIDENCE COLLECTING." The shell spoke.

  The President chuckled "You don't get it, does you? All that power and you cannot use it because your bound to the pact. Earth now has the best superior fleet in the galaxy and nobody can stop us, we are not buckling under politics, we are going to war and earth will be the rightful ruler of this galaxy. You warriors should just stay out of human af
fairs and be on the edge of galaxy, holding the line against the Futility. Not mucking about in our region of space. I am now demanding all warriors to move to the edge of the milky way or be destroyed.!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

  "HUMAN, YOU HAVE GONE TO FAR AND DEMAND TOO MUCH, I AM IN AGREEMENT THAT WAR BETWEEN HUMANS AND POLICIES REGARDING HUMANS SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED AND ENACTED BY HUMAN HANDS NO MATTER HOW FLAWED, BUT YOU ARE RISKING THE STABILITY AND DEFENSE OF THIS GALAXY, YOUR FOLLY WILL DAMAGE THE FIBER THAT HOLDS US TOGETHER AND WEAKEN THE FRONT, CEASE YOUR FOOLISHNESS AND ALL CAN BE FORGOTTEN, LIFE IS ENDLESS AND THE GALAXY CAN HOLD EVERYONE FOR MANY EONS, DO NOT RISK HUMANITY FUTURE ON SHORT TERM GOALS" said S-4XN-001.

  The President was shocked at his speech, did it help him or did it hurt him? "You should not interfere, anymore robot!" he ended communication.

  "WE CANNOT ATTACK HUMANS DUE TO THE PACT BUT WE CAN SUPPORT THE LUNA, MARS AND UNITED SPACE COLONIES, I HAVE ALREADY CONTACTED THEM AND THEY AGREED TO RECEIVE SUPPLIES, WEAPONRY AND SHIPS, THEY WILL BE MODIFIED SO HUMANS COULD OPERATE IT, I FEAR MY ACTIONS WILL SPARK A Civilian BUT I HOPE I HAVE EVERYONE APPROVAL TO BEGIN, IN DEFENSE OF MILKY WAY GALAXY. VOTE NOW" the vote was dead even for several weeks, but it finally hit 51%, A Civil war just started and nobody knows what the future will hold.

  S-4XN-001 warned the president, and he voted no on the supplying of the losing side, it would just extend the conflict, if a few billion of humans had to die for earth to feel good about itself it was a acceptable loss, the attack on warriors that sacrificed their being for humanity did not deserve to be ambushed and destroyed, but he knew he could just make more shells and therefor new warriors, if they died it was not meant to be and their deaths will make us stronger it had to because there were no going back.

  He made contact with the all the "southern" warriors and asked them to retreat to his territory if they are ever engaged by humans and could not fire back, he promised shelter to outlast this short storm. Many agreed to join his section of space if they ever fought a battle they could not win, like vs humans since the pact would not engage. He had now over a 600 systems under his name, and he was happy with his new territory border, he decided that stopping his border toward the center was a great decision he had not have to deal with other warriors territory or humans settled in that section and had to buy them out, He kept moving south toward the edge he had plenty of room to expand if he hit edge just expand another direction until he had enough, which was never.

  He had to grow forever, if the futility was limitless then he should be as well, he now had over one billion obsolete battleships in his territory, his production speed on the alien designs was insane, he made thousands everyday, and he figured he would stop production on the old designs forever, he would use them as border guards and have his improved upgraded fleet as the real defense, the drones kept eating asteroids although outdated it suited his goals, He got most of his materials now from suns, and lava/magma planets. He still mined normal planets and asteroids, He mined out a few planets and began testing his technology of performing and it was a incredible easy process, simply encase the planet in a super tight planetary shield, fire an a-type bomb to ignite and burn the planet, push the ignited part into the core and cool it down so it kept earth like temperatures, tune the shielding and pour massive amounts of water to create steam explosions and then pour down the basic building blocks to create life, plant trees that are sturdy enough to live on the planet when it's rich with nutrients and carbon dioxide and pump in a little extra oxygen and watch the plants take over the process, plant more trees until a balance, and check if planet now has atmosphere, stratosphere and a ozone layer, if it reaches live able levels, you just got yourself a planet.

  He got himself several planets he used them for farming since farming in space was stupid, plants needed water, soil and sun which a proper planet always had so, he solved that problem and his food production was out of this world, and he was quite happy to rake in profits from his trading outposts, he bought a hundred of millions of tons of metal for a renewable resource like food.He took a quick look over the "books" from his managers on the trade stations there were no skimming or stealing going on for now, but he made several safeguards against thievery before he started to hire the chaotic humans. He began his usually schedule of producing, mining and researching.

  Year 2361

  Skirmishes broke out in the central sector with several warriors aligned with Luna, Mars and the space colonies started to ambush Earth aligned warriors and there were clashes every hour constantly around Sol, Most of the traffic in Luna was impacted especially neutral warriors being randomly attacked or blockaded, even S-4XN-001 was blockaded when transferring goods to his Luna star base. He was not part of the conflict, and he promptly told the humans to stop bothering him he's here to deliver foodstuff, which was needed since Mars basically stopped trading with Earth after a failed military raid on the planet.

  They managed to repel the strike team that tried to take control of the guns on the surface, and they failed, Earth had lost over 5.000.000 battleships from the counter-attack from the surface lasers.You could say mars was isolated unless you remember that a planet was a massive celestial object and stopping a ship barreling out from the planet was close to impossible without luck, and luck was not something that earth could count on. Mars were self sufficient to a degree, they had everything they needed but not over-consumption.

  "Sir, We lost 40% of our strike team by a martian ambush, We dont know how they got the information about our operation, but we were shot down before we even left the drop pods, They had to know we were coming!" said a saluting soldier. The older general scratched his white beard, he had been alive for a long time and kept his looks to match his age as a gray haired older gentleman instead of a young-adult in the prime of his life. "So, We lost a few good million men this past week is that what you are saying?" the soldier nodded his head and did not reply.

  "The President won't be happy about this, Mars is a fortress in our system that we cannot touch, and they can get all the reinforcements and supplies in and out all they want, Luna is a minefield of different corporations and nations. We can't just seize it and it's orbits without a proper war declaration against pretty much anyone that operates a business or country in the entire Sol." he said while finish his last cup of coffee.

  He pondered how to conquer mars, and he knew that throwing soldiers and ships toward mars was stupid, he would lose half the earth navy just to take mars and then the counter-attack would arrive, Mars entire fleet would ambush them as soon as they commited, and they would lose the war at that moment, and the martian fleet always kept out of range and was reinforcing from outside the system constantly, those damn meddling warriors.The general knew they had plenty of warriors on the earth side too, but humans were putting their tears, sweat and blood into this campaign, Was the war necessary for Earth? Probably not, but he was not here to question motives he was here to enact orders. He settled for a revenge op, target the free spaced colonies and get them off the map, he would transfer all the humans offsite and blow them up denying a re-supply point for the enemy armies and spaceships. He sent out his orders and watched from his safe bunker on one of Pluto moons.

  The battleships swarmed around the isolated space stations and a massive gunfight ensued, It was quick and easy, a space station is a terrible place to hold and defend, you can't use any heavy weapons in fear of blowing a hole in the station and the attacker does not have that problem if they just want you dead, The station surrendered almost as soon as the docking bay was lost, Several thousands of cargo ships arrived and started to evacuate the civilians. That process took almost three days, it held almost 100 million people, and they needed a place to transfer them too as well.

  "Sir, The station is empty, what are your orders?" replied the sergeant. "Blow it up, and do it loud and big. I want the other space colonies to hear it, see it and taste it on their hulls of their homes." said the general.


  The soldier acknowledges the order and got everyone back into the battleships, they transferred five enhanced nuclear missiles and put them in strategic positions so it would push the base into itself to insure maximum destruction. The soldier got into the battleship after arming the nukes and went out of range and looked out the window, There was a bloom of metal expanding from the former station, and they saw small flashes and everything collide and separate, This area was now a travel hazard but that's someone else problem, his job was done.

  "Breaking news: Earth just attacked the space colonies and destroyed five of the habitats around Jupiter and displaced several hundreds of million of people, Every nation in Sol has condemned Earth's action and declared war immediately in response, Earth had no comment except that they are in a war, and they had to destroy it because it was used by terrorists. More news at eleven."

  Seyla looked at the news feed while traveling down to the south, she had a few years of travel before she reached Sol and began the 6-year-long journey from there, she pondered if she should go the "scenic" route and bypass the war zone, but there was no news about any of the factions confiscating ships or goods, so she and Yui decided to keep going and stick to the plan. She had examined the box twice under a powerful microscope and scanner and saw it was only a tiny little metal box, with "From your brother, Matthias" inscribed on the inside. She thought it was a horrible gift to give to a newborn, but she did not know much about the now turned warrior that had the most territory down the southern region, She set course and steeled her resolve.

  "Burn out the engine! We gotta reach Luna before they catch us!" screamed the captain. "It's impossible we are going too fast, we need to slow down before we decent!" screamed the helmsman.