The Futility Wars

by Magnus Thollander

  Emily shook and froze for a second, there were over 50 million people in this colony and no matter how barbaric she knew earth could be they would not send 50 million innocent civilians to their doom for just a military installation, but she obeyed the orders and ran towards the nearest spaceport, She saw several families and soldiers rushing down the hallways which were designed for cargo and not commuter traffic, the upper levels which usually had the commuter traffic was the least shielded area while the cargo ones were deep in the crust of the planet, she rushed down the hallway when the light turned off again, She fell to her fleet when she felt the gravity generator turn off, now Earth gravity was off, and she felt a lot lighter, but that was also a big problem cause the gravity generator was next to the power generator, and after a few minutes the lights went off permanently, she ran down the corridor while weaving between the civilians and the slow soldiers,

  "WARNING, WARNING. THE PORT HAS BEEN DESTROYED, AND NO SHIPS ARE ABLE TO TAKEOFF, HEAD TO THE NEAREST BUNKER I REPEAT HEA-" the alarm chimed before being cutoff with loud static which ended abruptly, Emily felt a shock wave hit the front of her and a slow moving light was traveling down the tunnel, she squinted her eyes and her feet took over, she ran the opposite direction, and she struggled to bypass everyone behind her, she felt the warmth lick her back, and she flew forward like a bullet down the corridor and passed out while bathed in the fire.

  Redmond stood on the ship of the Federation flagship frowning at the destruction on the colony, he looked at disgust at the commander which had ordered that savage attack, The commander glanced at Redmond and said "Speak LT, No point in keeping it inside."

  Redmond closed his eyes and let out a sigh, "We could have taken that facility with our manpower, sure it would not be instantaneous and hard-fought but you just ordered the death of at least 50 million civilians, and there is no value of this attack if we don't take the colony, everything we fought for just went out the window and you-"

  "Enough, Redmond. I have my orders, and this is not the only attack on Mars. We are striking every colony at this moment, the entire Mars will be a wasteland. The higher ups have decided this is the tactic we should employ and that's what we are going to do." Commander said with no feeling in his voice, Redmond and the crew looked in horror when they saw the shield pop on the colony and the missiles started to tear up the infrastructure, Redmond launched his fist straight into the face of the commander, and he buckled to the ground, Redmond jumped his body and started to pound him until the crew woke up and pulled him away "BASTARD, YOU USED CHEMICAL WEAPONS, YOU USED STARDUST. YOU SAVAGE!"

  The commander rose to the floor and everyone looked at him in waiting for a response "That's right, We have been ordered to carpet the planet in Stardust chemical, we will melt all the metal on the planet, so they can never be rebuilt, billions will die. But we have TO, Earth needs to destroy Luna and Mars, or we will never be able to rise up ever again, We already made deals with the warrior that attacked Earth, our entire navy will be scrapped, and we will only have 1% left, Mars, Luna and the Space Colonies match us directly right now, what can we do when we need to rebuild? We will lose Earth, This is end-game people. So get back to work, Anyone that wish to leave the ship can do so right now from the escape pods, cause they will not be used in the upcoming strike against the combined fleets that will come and attack us soon when they get the word."

  Redmond struggled free and looked around the room, he wanted to pound the face of the commander some more, but he thought better of it, he stormed out the command deck and walked into the nearest escape pod, He programmed the course to the Luna trade station owned by the warrior that attack Earth and started this madness, He felt that might be the only place he could dock without getting executed after this operation.

  The combined fleets soon after hearing the Earth Navy was serious about wiping out every colony on Mars started to dart toward the fleets to end the madness, They were several hours behind, and they were burning fuel to increase the engines speed, they had to get there before the massacre ended, and they could save as many people as they could, several million of ships went toward Earth armed with nuclear missiles and other chemical weapons to bring revenge.

  Few hours later Mars finally started to engage the outer perimeter of the Earth Navy, and they struck with a rage and berserk mentality with no retreat or surrendering, missiles were flowing in the billions and lasers were firing wildly, even cargo ships that escaped the battle started to ram into the Earth Command ships to bring any advantage they could, a fleet versus fleet battle that were now in the billions were chaotic and brought only fear to the galaxy.

  Mars and Luna navy were slowly gaining advantages now that they were starved for missile and exhausted soldiers, The real battle commenced 96 billion ships versus 36, and the kills were in their favor. Earth was attacking the colonies while fighting the smaller fleet and that only enraged the fleet more, the battle lasted for 15 days and it was a narrow victory for Earth Navy, they had lost 80 billion ships and the rest of the enemy ships had headed back for resupply or repairs, Earth Navy were running on fumes, and they started to empty the tanks and after refilling their remaining workable ships they were down to 6 billion ships, they set course immediately for Luna, they had only a few days left before they had to officially abandon their ships to the warrior contract.

  Earth's massive amount of fortresses and gun placements luckily managed to destroy all suicide attacks and missile attacks, only a few million people died when a fortress sank down and struck a popular tourist station, Earth had no ships left to evacuate or even help the crew of the fortresses and turrets that were heaps of scrap traveling across the solar system, Earth won this battle, but they knew they had to beat Luna before the month was over.

  Seyla was holding Yui and watching the news, She had wanted to leave the system but when they saw Earth navy's crazy actions today they figured they would hold up here with the now 1 billion battleship fleet orbiting the station, This was probably the safest celestial object in the galaxy. Seyla saw a new pair of ships enter Sol, and they were four massive blocks that slowly trekked toward the station, She bit her teeth and got onto her battleship and set course to the colony ship and requesting docking permission.

  She was refused of course, but she sent a picture of the steel box, and was accepted she asked for S-4XN-001 parents location and walked there. She walked into the apartment and it was almost too big for just three people, she nodded her head and Oscar led her to a seat. She pulled out the briefcase and put the box on the table. "I was supposed to deliver this to one of your grandchildren in the south, but after seeing the chaos this past few months i think it's better if you have it." Jess took the steel box and opened it and saw the inscription.

  "Matthias spent several months making this container, He suffered so much in just fusing a few pieces of metal together. He wanted to make something that could last forever he said. He made it out of his old metal crutch that he brought with him, he had asked for a metal saw and the moment he sawed he almost passed out in pain, but he still did it. He made the box with just simple rivets and steel." She was bit teary eyes and Oscar held her hands.

  "Thank you, our son Richard obviously does not keep it for sentimental value anymore, but we will. Thank you." Oscar said. Seyla bit her lips, she did not want to take advantage of them like earth did, but she had dreams too." I want you ask you both for a favor." she said with a low voice. They both stared at her waiting to hear her answer.

  Few days later.

  The war was officially over and Luna was now a smoking crater and the entire system was littered with billions of corpses and scraps of metal that hovered out of control, Luna and Mars officially agreed to a ceasefire with Earth which made no sense to anyone but it was an agreement to the wars end, Seyla looked at the massive shell in front of her which resembled a spaceship, she stroked the side of the ship under the watchful eyes of S-4XN-001 "YOU WISH TO BECOME WARRIOR AND GIVE UP YOUR LIFE?"r />
  Seyla looked at the ship and had her eyes closed rubbing it, thinking about what she wanted to do, she knew warriors were the future after watching that horrible war she knew humans had no longer a place in the galaxy, they would need warriors to guard their assets and lives. Only they could protect them against humanity own savagery. She looked at the lifeless shell behind her and opened her eyes and stared into his cold metallic helmet, "If you cannot provide what i first asked for, then yes. I wish to become a warrior. There is not other option for my people at this moment."

  S-4XN-001 stared at her and processed the information and gains from the trade which was none, this was more of a favor for bringing something old and sentimental to him, he knew the little box he made was important to him and his family especially after seeing they gently hand him the box like it was the treasure of the galaxy, He would have let out a sigh of resignation hearing her speak about giving up herself to become a warrior, He would "lose" on this deal and probably bring him a few more troubles for a few years considering, but if there was any compassion left in him, would he condemn someone to the existence of a warrior for no reason when he could provide one, he thought about it for a moment, and he said "YES, I WILL GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT, THIS ONCE."

  Seyla smiled, and they shook hands, she was quickly escorted off the colony ship and docked in the trading station and waited for her "present" to be complete according to her specifications. She went on a recruiting rampage and took every single person that wanted to travel down to the south, which was few in retrospect. Alot of war survivors took up her offer and after countless interviews, she had a workable population of workers, managers and miners which would help quick start her operation in the south, She could not wait until the day when it was ready, and she knew it would be soon cause the warrior had promised as much. She walked down to the bar and met her sister, and they toasted on their success, The bar was lively and everyone was clinking glasses happy the war was over and trading sanctions were gone. The entire room quieted down when the bartender increased the volume on the television.

  "Breaking News!: Something is happening near Luna orbit, we go to scene right now!" The camera switched to a woman wearing a scarf on a space ship hovering a safe distance away from the four obelisk that were now glowing with a weird neon glow, "This is a object from the warrior S-4XN-001, The same one that attacked Earth. The obelisk or whatever it is started to link together a hour ago and then started to glow in a blueish color, our stations experts do not feel that it's a weapon since there are no viable ports- Wait! It just activated and it's now bathed in a neon glow!"

  There was complete silence for 30 seconds when the first of the ships started to pour out from the obelisk, They looked at a massive army of drones in tens of thousands start to pour out constantly from the gate and then grab the scrap of ships that were now in sole property of the warrior. "It's a portal!" Seyla heard someone shout in the back of her ear, and she watched the footage intently, Yui pulled her sleeve, and she looked at her "We should have asked for one of those as well."

  Seyla smiled and watched the footage.

  A few days later.

  S-4XN-001 had hundreds of millions of drones active in the sol system grabbing all the scraps and bringing them back to the many floating refineries in the system which he brought through the gate in pieces, He was happy with his new portal technology which he had solved and made viable, He was still in the process of managing the power requirements which was massive, His giant obelisks were 90% power generators and the rest were the portal drive, He still had a lot of kinks and flaws to solve but for now it saved him years of travel and the portal ships could portal to and from his territory on their own which saved him a lot of time and resources.

  Seyla sent a request to S-4XN-001 for access to the portal when it activated the next time, and she got a confirmation that she could use it to send her ships and resources down the to the south whenever he was done collecting the scraps of metal from the system which rightfully belonged to him, he had estimated it would take three more months to collect and process it all, Seyla could either wait 3 months or spend 6 years traveling down to the station, she rather waited and the crew was cheerful they could access the portal instead traveling down slowly. Yui went to double check the manifest of goods and people that were going to travel down south, they had already been promised a ride with the colony ships down to the southern sector where their trade station and habitat were being constructed according to their specifications.

  Seyla had gone overboard and demand a lot more than she thought was possible with today's technology but that had not been a problem for the warrior S-4XN-001 which agreed and told them the station would house and feed one billion people comfortably, and she had simply told her she wanted it to be like the old days, and he got the picture, he would put his best efforts in making a station that would fit her needs and house and feed her people, she had recruited about 50 million personnel and their families which were the staggering amount of about 250 million people, they would work basically for free until their trading kicked in but when they were told they would live in the south in the protection of the warrior that terrified everyone they agreed, Their old homes were craters, and they had been lucky survivors picked up and deposited on a station or the colony ship that hovered over Luna where most of them were, Luna entire population or what was left of it was going down to the south with her, there were nothing left here and the cease fire agreement with Earth had made them disillusioned by their leaders.

  They had wanted revenge, and they were denied it, so the only thing they could do was move on, and they took any opportunity to leave the system even if they had to work only for food and housing, but they were promised a retroactive paycheck which they knew might never come considering the rumors of how pirate infested the south was and trade ships were destroyed or hijacked every day.

  Yui walked down the corridor and was greeted by a young man, she recognized him as the man who hired her to get the box from his father down to the south, she froze for a second, and he waved her down. Yui was thinking about how to explain things and before she spoke he replied "Don't worry, I'm not mad or gonna pressure you about the little contract that you and your sister spoiled, the "package" is in right hands and i got my due, I just new you were here that's why i stopped by, my uncle will let me transfer into shell to become a powerful warrior and i will join my father in the north. Contract complete, just saying goodbye before my mortal coil expires, Heh." the man said.

  Yui could not find the words she had never stolen from a client before but her sister had made the right choice but from a company perspective they did the ultimate sin, she watched him walk away toward the dock, and she set course for her ship. She needed to double-check her cargo manifests one more time.

  Two months later.

  S-4XN-001 was quite unhappy when his newest research in this C-class element was interrupted by a emergency summons to the council about himself. He connected to his shell using the newest portal technology, his communications from the south to sol was now instant. He allowed several warriors down south to join his network, under a bit of a yearly tax. Every warrior had agreed, not only in fear but in support. He connected to his shell and saw N-158-328 stand in the middle, he was the warrior that kept the northern sector in check, he was closely related to human factions and created a bond between man and machine, every part was integrated from war to research, He knew humans would never be able to fill in the blanks but needed a superior computer to do the calculations, but he admired him for making it work instead of being constantly interrupted.

  "WARRIOR, YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR AND HAVE PUT HUMANITY AT GREAT RISK, AND WE CANNOT STOP YOU IF YOU HAD DESTROYED EARTH OR ENTIRE SOL, WE ARE RELUCTANT TO ADMIT YOUR "TITANS" ARE SUPERIOR TO ANYTHING WE HAVE AND YOUR FLEETS CAN BEAT ALL OF US PUT TOGETHER, THIS IS NOT A BROTHERHOOD IT ONCE WAS, WE ARE NOW TOO FAR BENEATH YOU TO BE OF ANY OPPONENT TO YOU, AND WE WISH YOU TO GIVE YOUR TECHNOLOGY OF
TITAN CONSTRUCTION, WEAPONRY AND POWER SOURCES. THIS IS TO CREATE A BALANCE IN THE GALAXY." said N-158-328.

  "NO, THERE IS NO NEED TO SUPPLY WEAPONRY, POWER SOURCES OR SHIP DESIGNS. YOU WILL GET THERE EVENTUALLY IN TIME, ALL THINGS WILL BE EASIER TO DISCOVER NOW THAT YOU KNOW IT EXISTS. YOU SHOULD NOT OVER-REACH IN CLAIMING MY TECHNOLOGY AND RESOURCES, YOU ARE ALSO SAME AS ME A WARRIOR." said S-4XN-001.

  "S-4XN-001 YOU ARE CORRECT IN YOUR STATEMENTS, BUT YOU ARE ALSO A DANGER TO EVERYONE IN THIS GALAXY INCLUDING MY PEOPLE, IF YOU CARE ABOUT THE DEFENSE AND SECURITY OF THIS GALAXY YOU WILL LEAST SUPPLY THEM THE "A1-METAL"

  "WE ARE BOUND BY A PACT TO NEVER GIVE ANY INFORMATION ABOUT MY RACES TECHNOLOGY, AND IT IS WELL GUARDED AS IT SHOULD BE JUST LIKE HUMANITY. BUT YOU ARE ABOVE MY RACE AS WELL IN MANY ASPECTS, YOUR TITANS WE HAVE SIMILAR SHIPS, AND YOUR MISSILE WEAPONRY WE HAD EXPERIENCED SIMILAR TECHNOLOGY. BUT THESE WARRIORS FROM HUMANITY ARE NOT LIKE YOU, THEY CANNOT SEE THE UNSEEN THEY CANNOT FIND THE ANSWER, I HAVE SPOKEN MANY TIMES TO DIFFERENT WARRIORS IN THIS GALAXY AND YOU ARE SPECIAL, YOU ARE A INGENIOUS PERSON. YOU MUST SUPPLY THEM LEASTTHE A1-METAL IN ITS BASIC FORM SO THEY COULD LEARN. YOU MUST FOR THE DEFENSE OF THIS GALAXY, THE STRONGER THEY ARE THE LONGER WE CAN HOLD AND THEN LONGER WE HOLD THE MORE WE CAN TRY TO FIND A SOLUTION TO THE "FUTILITY" said the Alien Seeder.

  All the warriors was shocked at their new-found revelation that there were "secrets" they knew it already but it was another thing to be told the truth. S-4XN-001 processed the data and information and tried to get a counter-offer, he could supply the A1-Metal, that would probably be acceptable.