Also,since there is a Second Hyperspace War,is the current war the First Hyperspace War?If it isn’t, what war is?
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No, this isn't the First Hyperspace War. Two other conflicts are going to be shown in Faith in Chaos. The Exodus/Taiidan Civil War has already been introduced, and the second war will start near the end of Chapter 4.
There was a "First Hyperspace War." You made me dig up my copy of "History of Hiigara: Prelude to the End Times" to answer this one! The book (Created by Relic Entertainment) is a historical briefing which explains the history of the Homeworld Universe in between the two main games.
The conflict you're asking about doesn't have a name in the book. In Faith in Chaos, it will be referred to as the "Galactic Rebellion" or "Great Hyperspace War."
Here's what went down: 4000+ years ago, the militaristic Bentusi were the only race in the Galaxy with Far Jump technology (the ability to travel to any point in the Galaxy instantaneously) and they used this tech to place all spacefaring civilization under their dominion. Thousands of spacefaring civilizations were able to co-exist because the Bentusi governed, restricted, and regulated all Hyperspace travel. The Bentusi also saw themselves as peacekeepers. Whenever an armed conflict threatened to start, a huge Bentusi Armada would Far Jump into the fray and stop the fighting. Because the Bentusi Fleet had infinite range and could reach any destination instantly, their dominance over the galaxy was unchallenged. While the Galaxy enjoyed relative peace for centuries thanks to Bentusi peacekeepers, the Short Jumping civilizations grew to resent Bentusi domination.
After a time, a sufficient number of people, governments, and civilizations had grown tired of Bentusi rule. After about 500 years of Bentusi domination, a rebel leader whose name has been forgotten somehow managed to coordinate and execute the largest armed rebellion in Galactic History. In the span of a few hours, several thousand wars, invasions, insurrections, revolutions, and other armed conflicts broke out across the Galaxy as nearly every nation in the Galaxy turned against one another in open violence. The Galactic free-for-all overwhelmed the Bentusi and their secret was quickly revealed: The Bentusi possessed only one Progenitor Hyperspace Core, meaning that only one Bentusi fleet had the ability to Far Jump.
When confronted by possibly tens of thousands of different yet simultaneous wars across the entire Galaxy, the Bentusi Peacekeepers faltered. They chose to retreat from the front lines and wait for the chaos to die down. When it did, the number of spacefaring empires in the Galaxy had been reduced from several thousand to just a few dozen. These new empires were able to demand full independence from the Bentusi Peacekeepers. The Bentusi relented, and the 16 most powerful states in the Galaxy established the Galactic Council to serve as an interstellar peacekeeping body. They offered the Bentusi a seat on the Council, and the Great Hyperspace War ended with a newly established International Order.
That's the Galactic Rebellion in a nutshell for you. It won't be renamed "First Hyperspace War" until the second one rolls around, mostly because the Galactic Rebellion and the 2015-2036 war are the only two conflicts fought on a truly Galactic Scale with gargantuan loss of life.
Setting this game up was an adventure that probably deserves an AAR all to itself. I started building the Faith in Chaos Galaxy on December 5, 2018. Let me explain how it went:
I started the game normally and, just like I said in a previous post, the starting year was 1860. All 22 empires had just the one star system because I turned off Advanced Starts. Since Faith in Chaos is a reworking of a story I made up about 10 years ago, I already knew roughly where Partoga was supposed to be in the Galaxy. I reloaded and restarted the game about 70 times (seriously) until the Partogan homeworld spawned in the part of the Galaxy I needed it to be in: In the western side of the Inner Rim, near the Galactic Core and adjacent to a Nebula.
Once I had Partoga in the right place, I started moving the other 21 Empires. (Of course, I had used the console to shut off the AI beforehand) To move an empire, I used the Console Command "play" to play as each empire in turn. ("Play 0" to play as the Partogans, "Play 14" to play as the Hiigarans, and so on) Then I used the "intel" command to find a planet where their "new homeworld" would be. I used "Own" to give the empire immediate control over that planet and forcibly moved the entire population from the old homeworld to the new one. If I couldn't find a homeworld near the spot where I wanted the empire to start from, I'd use the Editor Menu mod to edit a planet and turn it into a habitable world with tile blockers and resources. The process of moving every empire to the place I wanted them to start from took about a week in real-world time. Once an empire was moved to their new starting system, I'd depopulate their original starting system (by using the "kill_pop" command) and dismantle the station, causing them to lose control of the system.
To avoid confusion, I renamed both the old and new starting systems of any empire that got moved. In Chapter 2.7, you'll get to see the planet Paku Nui, the Capital world of the Kingdom of Paku Nui. This is an empire that got moved. (See the picture below)
If you viewed the Paku Nui Levakians in the "Species" menu, it would say their homeworld is "Ismon III" instead of "Paku Nui" because I relocated the species and renamed the planets. When I first started the game and started moving empires, the planet you see in the picture above was a gas giant. I had to use the Editor Menu mod to turn it into Paku Nui.
After that comes the reason I had to start the game in 1860. In order to give each empire the Territory I wanted it to have at the start of the story, I carried out a 3 stage operation. Since there were 22 empires, I had to repeat the following procedure 22 times. (With the AI turned off and "debugtooltips" turned on the whole time)
First, I used the console command "survey" to instantly survey the entire galaxy, enabling the construction of Starbases anywhere. Then i used "instant_build" while playing as each empire in turn to build Starbases quickly. The funny thing about "instant_build" is that when you order a Construction Ship to build say... 99 Starbases... then it will create one Starbase per day. So I'd switch between all 22 empires, stack up "build Starbase" orders, then let the game run at normal speed. All told, it took around 300 days in-game for all of the empires to gain all of the star systems I wanted them to have. It took another 400 days for all 22 empires to build up their Mining and research stations, even with instant_build turned on.
Second, all of the "Main" empires (the ones who are going to be the main focus of the story) got their planets. While playing as the Partogans, Levakians, and Blorg, I used the console command "colonize" to plant a colony on each planet, then I turned the AI back on and used the console command "human_ai" to give the computer control over the Kingdom of Partoga. I let the game run for 10 years (1879 to 1889) and let the empires fix any economic problems that sprung up from controlling 100+ star systems while simultaneously having only one planet.
Third, I gave the Main Empires their Traditions and Ascension Perks:
Ascension Perks were assigned to the Main Empires based on what each empire is going to do throughout the course of the story. Partoga's fourth Ascension Perk is a gigantic spoiler and won't be revealed until Chapter Four.
- Kingdom of Partoga: Harmony, Prosperity, Domination, Discovery, Consecrated Worlds, Voidborne, Eternal Vigilance, and a Secret Ascension Perk.
- All Six Levakian States: Supremacy and Nihilistic Acquisition.
- Blorg Commonality: Harmony, Prosperity, Expansion, Enigmatic Engineering, Imperial Perogative, and Grasp the Void
Finally, I turned the AI off again and started setting up the two conflicts that will be featured in the story. While playing as the Imperialist Taiidani I sent a "Subjugation" demand to the Republican Taiidani, then I changed to the Republicans and accepted the demand, making them a Vassal of the Imperialists. Then I played as every empire I wanted to be on the Republican's side of the war and hit the "Support Independence" option in the diplomatic menu. Next, I played as the Turanic Raiders, Partoga, non-democratic Assurians, and the Vaygr. While playing as each empire, I set up Defensive Pacts with the Imperialist Taiidani. This Alliance System guaranteed a massive conflict once the Republicans declare war on the Imperialists.
Next, I played as all six Levakian states and subjugated them to Partoga. Then I switched to Partoga and accepted all of their offers.
Once that was done, I had to do the final step of setting up the Kingdom of Partoga. I went through and manually re-named every planet, every upgraded Starbase, every sector, and every leader with a Maori personal name, a Maori place name, or just an appropriate word from the Maori language. (Please... Any modder reading this... I desperately need a Maori/Polynesian/Pacific Islander namelist... PLEASE!!!)
Once Partoga, her Vassals, and the preset empires were set up, I moved on to the Homeworld and Homeworld2 races. Rinse and repeat.
Since the Homeworld and Homeworld2 races are present in this story, I moved their starting planets into the regions of space that roughly correspond to their placement in the Homeworld Universe. I used the legendary map of the Homeworld Universe created by Norsehound as a guide.
Below is a copy of the Norsehound map. (warning: it's huge) It shows the rough placement of the Homeworld races during the events of Homeworld2. I used the guidebooks for the original three Homeworld games (Homeworld, Cataclysm, and Homeworld2) to figure out what the relative size and power of each nation would have been during the events of Faith in Chaos, which takes place 10 years before Homeworld: Cataclysm, and five years after the first game.
Now compare the placements of the Homeworld Races in the Norsehound Map to the Faith in Chaos map:
It took me about 3 days in real-world time to set up the Homeworld Races. The Hiigaran, Imperialist Taiidani and Vaygr capital worlds as well as Kharak are all in the right place according to the Norsehound Map. The Republican Taiidani capital world is in the wrong Galactic Arm, and should be much closer to Hiigara. Unfortunately the AAR had already started before I caught the mistake, so its going to stick for now.
Once all of the empires were set up and had control of their territory, I played as the Taiidani Republic one more time and declared war on the Imperialist Taiidani, with the War Goal of "Independence." The Alliance System was triggered and almost all of the other empires were dragged into the conflict.
Once that was done, I deactivated all cheats, switched to the Kingdom of Partoga, and just played the game normally for five in-game years. (1923 to 1928) Once the Galaxy looked the way I wanted it too for the story, I saved the game one more time and started setting up ships and planets for screenshots. At this point, nearly 400 screenshots have been taken. Best case scenario, only 30 or so will make it into the story. (This is a Narrative Story, after all.)
I finished building the Faith in Chaos Galaxy on December 17, 2018. The project took about 21 hours of gameplay across 12 days of work.
And that is the story of how I made this Galaxy.
The closest I've ever come to making a custom galaxy is making five human empires and force-spawning them in randomly, then playing as one and trying to beat them to Earth. (Spoiler alert: None of those things happened because this was before Utopia, during which time I struggled playing past 2230).
Also, I'm curious as to the backstory of the Blorg in this universe. In Paradox's backstory, the Blorg picked up old radio signals from Earth, leading them to adopt human names and a desire to befriend everyone. Here, however, they're a fully-fledged empire during an era when humanity is only starting to invent radio and already have names.
Just like the existence of the Hyperwave Relay in the blatantly wrong time period and the Vaygr controlling a large swath of space too early, the Blorg being spaceborne in 1928 is a major anachronism. In this universe, the Blorg became spacefaring about 80 years before Partoga. Their quest for friends was launched when an alien spacecraft accidentally exited Hyperspace underneath their planet's crust and was destroyed. Salvaging what little technology and knowledge they could from it, the Blorg came to believe these aliens had been trying to land on Blorg and make friends with its inhabitants, only to crash and die at the last moment. A badly translated crew manifest gave the Blorg their names.
The Faith in Chaos version of the Blorg Commonality is trying to find the owner of the wrecked starship and befriend them. They only became Fanatical Befrienders after making contact with the Galactic Council and seeing the opportunity to make double-digit numbers of friends. Despite searching for decades, the Blorg never found the owner of the crashed ship, nor did they find any species who spoke or used the language seen in the crew manifest. None of the current Galactic powers use ships built like the one buried beneath the jungles of Blorg, either. It's currently an unsolved mystery.
The Faith in Chaos version of the Blorg Commonality is trying to find the owner of the wrecked starship and befriend them. They only became Fanatical Befrienders after making contact with the Galactic Council and seeing the opportunity to make double-digit numbers of friends. Despite searching for decades, the Blorg never found the owner of the crashed ship, nor did they find any species who spoke or used the language seen in the crew manifest. None of the current Galactic powers use ships built like the one buried beneath the jungles of Blorg, either. It's currently an unsolved mystery.
- 1
Chapter 1.4: Zenith
Chapter 1.4
Zenith
March 24, 1928 A.D.
LVK Shieldbreaker – Fornax Star System, Taiidan War Zone (System Under Republican Taiidani Control)
Caption said:
A Blorg Marine Frigate exited the Partoga-Fornax Hyperspace Gate and descended into the star system. Ahead of it, a battle was drawing to a close. A flotilla of Republican Taiidani warships were marauding through the system, destroying and burning down any infrastructure left behind by the Imperialist Taiidani as they retreated. In the middle of the system, an Imperialist Starbase lay in ruins, its hull ruptured in countless places. Wherever large sections of the Starbase were intact, Republican Marine Frigates had latched to the hull, reinforcing a small but determined group of invaders.
Allowed to pass by the Republican ships unmolested, the Blorg Marine Frigate flew right up to the Imperialist Starbase and latched onto its hull. Docking ports extended down from the hull of the Marine Frigate, attaching themselves to an unused docking port on the Starbase. A few Bios away, on the other side of the airlock, two Republican Taiidani soldiers manipulated the airlock controls, drawing in the Blorg ship and matching its air pressure to the station’s.
The Taiidani were hardy folk. Outside of a combat situation, the two soldiers would have raised the station’s internal temperature to make their Blorg guests more comfortable. Unfortunately, the Imperialists still had a small amount of control over the station’s climate controls. Comfort could wait. The radio crackled as the incoming ship made contact with the two soldiers. A mammalian voice greeted them.
“This is LV... uh... BCS Shieldbreaker calling docking control. How's the situation over there? We’ve got a few dozen Marines looking for some Imperials to fight.”
One of the soldiers, an officer, checked the seal between the Shieldbreaker and the Starbase. He simultaneously threw open the airlock door and spoke,
“They’re holed up near the core of the station. Have at ‘em, friends!”
Instead of Blorg, some thirty Levakian huntresses surged into the station! Both Taiidan soldiers dropped their jaws and stared at one another in surprise before one of the lionesses stopped to speak with them.
“Our mistress wishes to know the location of the brig. One of our own is being held there.” she explained.
Still confused by the sight of lions emerging from a fungoid ship, the Taiidan officer pointed towards an elevator.
“Uh, go down to deck ten.” he croaked, “Starboard side. Fifteenth room on the right.”
While the rest of the Levakians passed them by, the subordinate turned to his officer and said;
“Wait a minute! I thought the Levakians were on the enemy side!”
The officer drew his hand across his throat, signaling his companion to stop talking.
“You wanna tell them that?!”
By the time Tantomile disembarked from her own ship and entered the Starbase, the defending garrison had been neutralized. Her soldiers had found what she was looking for, and they guided her deep into the Starbase.
She was finally brought before a group of six Imperialist Taiidan soldiers who had been taken alive. They had been forced to their knees as she came into the dark, damp room where they were kept. One of them, an officer, raised his head to look at Tantomile as she entered, but a Levakian hunter immediately pressed his Slugthrower to the officer’s head and pressed the trigger.
The five remaining Imperialists shuddered with terror as their comrade’s corpse fell to the floor. The hunter who pulled the trigger growled at them, speaking in halting, broken Taiidan;
“Do not look upon our mistress. You are not worthy.”
One of the Taiidani, a younger male, began to panic.
“What?! What do you want!?” he half-screamed to the floor,
Tantomile squatted down, bringing her snout and teeth to his eye level. She sniffed the top of the Taiidani man’s head, which made him whimper with fear.
“There’s a Levakian named Admetus in the brig.” Tantomile growled menacingly, speaking in near-perfect Taiidan. “He’s important to me. If he’s alive, then you’ll take him to me. Then you can go home. But if he’s dead... then my friends will eat you... slowly... making sure to savor your conscious, squirming body as long as possible. Am I clear?”
…
It took the combined strength of three Levakian males to tear the reinforced door off its hinges. Inside the cramped little cell was a powerful-looking Levakian male with golden-brown fur and a dark orange mane. He looked up from his place on the floor and stared at Tantomile. Admetus’ eyes went wide, and he stared in awe at Tantomile’s white fur.
“Impossible.” Admetus breathed, “Princess Tantomile... is that really you?”
“In the fur.” Said Tantomile. “If you like being a guest of the Taiidan feel free to stay here, otherwise get up and follow me.”
Tantomile led Admetus out of the brig and began the trek back to her ship. Admetus started talking as he went.
“The last time I saw your highness, you were such a small cub.” Admetus began, “Many things were different then. What happened? Why are you out here?”
Tantomile shouldered her Slugthrower rifle and glanced back at Admetus as she walked upright down the corridor.
“I’m looking for help. The King of Paku Nui took over the Imperial Pride last week. My sister and I are, well, kind of in Exile.”
As they passed a porthole, Admetus looked out into space and caught a glimpse of Tantomile’s ship. He looked back at Tantomile in shock.
“Emerdon?!”
Tantomile nodded.
“He showed up in the Mangaia with a whole hunting party.” She explained. “Coricopat and I got out, but all the news networks say that our Mother and the rest of the Imperial Pride haven’t left the palace since the Takeover. He’s holding them there.”
“I’m not surprised,” Admetus commented, “Emerdon must be consolidating power, and mating with the lionesses, too.”
Tantomile winced and twitched her tail. Admetus looked at the floor.
“I’m sorry.” he said, “What about his old Kingdom, Paku Nui? Who did he leave in charge?”
“Waiparau.” Tantomile said, grateful to be moving on, “He’s a younger lion, maybe a year older than me. War veteran, too. He was out here in Taiidan space just a few months ago. That’s why I was looking for you. Navy records say you two served on the same ship. I was hoping that you might know him, or at least be able to tell me anything about him.”
Admetus furrowed his brow.
“Waiparau was on my ship, yes.” he said thoughtfully, “The second-in-command, if I remember right. Waiparau never got along with his superior. They had political arguments all the time.”
He’s on-topic now, Tantomile thought, time to ask.
“That’s what I thought.” Tantomile admitted, “Do you know if he was a separatist?”
Admetus startled and stared at Tantomile with wide eyes.
“What?!” he gasped, “How do you know about us?”
Ah, now we’re getting somewhere.
Tantomile flashed him a smirk.
“The Levakian Imperial Pride are Vassals to the Partogan Queen, remember?” She said, “We collaborate with each other whenever anarchists, separatists, or other militant extremists pop up, since lions like them are a threat to us both... Or should I be saying ‘lions like you?’”
Admetus seemed to regain a little bit of his swagger as Tantomile said this. He resumed walking beside her and they struck out for Tantomile’s ship again.
“I was a seperatist.” Admetus admitted, “But when Waiparau told me Emerdon’s plan to win our freedom, I left the cause. Don’t misunderstand me, Tantomile, I do want a Free Levakia, just not the way Emerdon was planning to do it. He only knows violence and death, so he thinks our freedom lies down that path.”
Tantomile sighed,
“I’ve heard people talk about Levakian Independence before,” she said, “but never seriously. Partoga’s too strong to take on in a fight, and they won’t just let us go. It’s a pipe dream!”
“Not to those in the Outer Rim.” Admetus replied, “There are serious revolutionaries out there. Lions who want a Free Levakia, and they’re ready to fight for it.”
Tantomile caressed the shock of her Slugthrower rifle.
“And what about you?” She asked,
Admetus shook his head.
“I... I don’t believe we can defeat the Partogans... but I do think we can find an alternative to fighting. We just need more time to figure something out.”
Tantomile approached Admetus and, to his surprise, brushed her head against his shoulder.
“If that’s what you feel, then consider yourself among friends.” Tantomile purred,
Admetus did not return the affection.
“And what, Princess Tantomile, are you and your ‘friends’ planning to do?”
Here at last. Tantomile thought.
“King Emerdon has gotten too dangerous.” Tantomile stated, “He controls the Imperial Pride, has a puppet ruling over Paku Nui, and might make a move on the Mangaia next. I’m not going to just sit on my haunches and wait for him to lead our people into a disaster. Not when I’ve got about 50 Thralls who’ve sworn to kill whatever I tell them to kill. I’m going to act, and I want you to join me.”
Admetus opened his eyes wide and gazed at Tantomile.
“You’re clearly Jemima’s cub.” He said, a hint of pride in his voice. “She was a lioness of action as well. But, Princess, I’m no mercenary-for-hire. I’m still an officer in the Partogan Royal Navy-Levakian Contingent. I can’t walk away from my commission unless you offer me something worthy of the deed.”
Tantomile smiled mischievously,
“Still got a sense of loyalty, huh?” She said, “That’s good. I’ll need lions like you. You see, Admetus, between you and me...”
She stopped walking again and drew close to whisper in Admetus’ ear.
“I have twice as many Thralls as my sister.” Tantomile hissed, “When the sun sets on my mother, I will be the next Empress of Levakia. Then I’ll have the power to reward loyalty.”
She had Admetus’ full attention now. She could feel him tense up expectantly. Tantomile’s voice became smoother and more seductive as she began to reel in her prey.
“When the time comes,” Tantomile purred, “you might just be the one to put me on the Gazania Throne, and reap the rewards of being an Empress-Maker.”
She had him. Very few lions could resist the alluring offer of reward from a lioness, and Admetus was definitely not one of them. In the darkened hallway, she could hear Admetus’s breathing get a little heavier with excitement.
“As Empress, I won’t allow dangerous lions like Waiparau to run Paku Nui. I need a voice of reason out there, someone I can trust to keep the more reckless lions out there from doing something really stupid. Maybe that someone is you... ‘King’ Admetus?”
“You’ve become very wise... your highness.” Admetus replied calmly.
A few minutes later, they had reached the airlock. The Taiidan soldiers had deserted their posts and were nowhere to be found. They’d been replaced by two of Tantomile’s huntresses. The Levakians saluted Tantomile and one of them said,
“Your highness, the Republican Taiidani are consolidating their hold on the system. They wanted me to ask you if we’re going to assist in the occupation. They really seem to think we’re actually on their side!”
“That’s why we keep the Blorg ship. The Republicans love those icky mushrooms.” Tantomile replied, “I want you to call all of our forces back to the Shieldbreaker. We’re leaving.”
“Yes, your highness!” Replied the huntress, and then she stood aside to let Tantomile and Admetus aboard the Shieldbreaker.
Tantomile ignored Admetus’ gasps of awed wonder as he was led aboard the ship. As far as Tantomile was concerned, there was nothing overly impressive with the Shieldbreaker aside from the story of how she had acquired it:
...
Two months ago, Empress Jemima and Partogan Queen Marie the Scholar had travelled to Blorg, the capital world of the Blorg Commonality and temporary Headquarters of the Galactic Council following the Battle of Hiigara. The Partogan and Levakian leaders were trying to negotiate a cease-fire with the Blorg as part of Queen Marie’s plan to de-escalate the Taiidan War. Empress Jemima had taken Tantomile and Coricopat along with her, hoping to use the mission as a chance to teach her daughters the fine art of Statecraft.
After talks broke down, the two rulers returned to the spaceport. They were about to board a ship that would take them home when Empress Jemima got into an intense argument with Queen Marie. Despite being a 13-year-old suffering from congestive heart failure, the Partogan ruler stood her ground and verbally assailed the fully-grown and healthy lioness, reminding every witness that Marie was the master and Jemima was the Vassel.
Unwilling to watch this play out, Tantomile had slipped away to another part of the spaceport. She chased a Blorg youngster up and down the terminal for the fun of it, all the while being followed by five of her Thralls, a group of Levakian Imperial Guards. After scaring the Blorg child for the umpteenth time, Tantomile had looked out a window and saw her mother’s ship flying away! Empress Jemima had accidentally left her youngest cub behind on a planet that was in a state of war against Partoga!
Tantomile’s Thralls had wanted to “set up a defensible position” and wait for help to arrive. She had another idea: While chasing the Blorg child, Tantomile had spotted a Blorg Marine Frigate docked to the Terminal. Instead of waiting for her mother to come back, Tantomile had ordered her Thralls to break into and steal the Marine Frigate. Countless members of the fungoid Fanatical Befriender society witnessed the brazen theft and were left speechless as the pilfered vessel rocketed into the sky, flying in formation with the Partogan/Levakain transport.
Jemima had been even more shocked. Publicly, Jemima had showered her daughter with praise and affection; but in private, the Empress had chastised and punished her daughter, saying that Tantomile had “undermined the peace process.” Ultimately, Jemima had ordered Tantomile to hand the stolen frigate over to the Partogan Royal Navy. Tantomile claimed to have done so, but secretly kept the ship, ordering her Thralls to study it and train themselves to fly it.
Tantomile had also renamed the vessel. The name “Shieldbreaker” was in reference to a mythical weapon supposedly wielded by the last King during the Battle of Archer’s Canyon. Some storytellers claimed it had been used to injure Queen Miranda the Great and spill her blood, a thought that made many Levakians very happy.
...
Tantomile’s lieutenant took a headcount, making sure that all Levakian hunters and huntresses were safely on board. Once everyone was accounted for, the Shieldbreaker separated from the Taiidan Starbase and began flying away from the system.
During the long wait for the next Hyperlane, Tantomile evicted one of her officers from their quarters and moved Admetus into the vacant room. Then Tantomile went into the Situation Room. This room was installed specifically so that Tantomile could keep up with developments around the galaxy. The walls were lined with various digital screens, and in the center of the room, a table-sized tablet computer rested on a pedestal at waist height. Tantomile tapped the tablet screen and brought up a digital map of the Kingdom of Partoga, plotting her next move.
Caption said:
Tantomile brought up a list on her screen. It was the names of known separatists and Levakian Nationalists who had served on the same ship as Admetus and Waiparaou. Absentmindedly, Tantomile drew a line through Admetus’ name and looked at the next one on the list.
“Hūria: Waiparau’s favorite bodyguard. Wanted on Partoga on charges of murder and terrorism. Green Guard capture bounty: 10 Million Dirams. Believed to be travelling with a Blorg fleet called ‘True Friendship Force’ and is planning to return to Partogan space soon.”
Alright. Tantomile thought. You’re next.
She scanned her map of the Galaxy, cross-referenced amatuer reports about fleet movements, and after about an hour of searching, she found the True Friendship Force. The flotilla of Blorg warships was passing through Hiigaran space, heading towards a Hyperspace Gate that would take them back to Blorg space.
Tantomile called the bridge and ordered the helmsman to plot an intercept course.
“Are we going straight there, your Highness?” asked the helmsman, “Or do you still want to rendezvous with the Privateer Fleet in the Corug-Tel system?”
Tantomile rolled her eyes.
“I’m paying those mercenaries to follow me, aren’t I?” she responded, “Call their Captain and tell him to do what I’m paying him to do! Then set an intercept course for the True Friendship Force.”
“Yes, your Highness!” Replied the helmsmen, “Course laid in. We’ll cross paths with the True Friendship Force in the Aiowa star system. Date of intercept: The 4th of Hōngongoi, 413. Sorry your Highness, there’s no Hyperspace Gates between here and there.”
Tantomile cut off her microphone and swore quietly.
“Three months from now. Damnit! Space is too damn big!”
Turning her microphone back on, she said.
“The 4th works for me. Get us there.” then she terminated the call.
Tantomile sighed, then pressed her paw to the touchscreen and turned on the news.
Since Tantomile and Coricopat had fled Partoga, she had been watching several news networks to keep up to date with everything that was happening in Partoga. She needed to be ready when the time came.
Mulling over her thoughts, Tantomile started perusing through the news networks until she found the one she was looking for. The digital screen lit up with a live feed from the most popular news agency in the galaxy. On screen was an image of a major battle that was taking place just a few star systems away:
Caption said:
After a moment, the image was replaced by a news desk populated by three Xenos.
At the desk were three sentients: The first was a sloth-like mammalian belonging to the Scyldari species. The computer-generated banner at the bottom of the screen identified him as “Velam Nordström: Anchor.” Velam the Scyldarian was talking to what had to be the single most hideous creature Tantomile had ever seen in her life: A member of the fungoid Blorg species. Tantomile didn’t need to check the banner. She knew who both of Velam’s guests were.
The Blorg was Heidi Vestergaard, the current Secretary General of the Galactic Council and arguably the single most powerful politician in the Post-Taiidan galaxy. Finally, the third being was Fleet Admiral Makis Manaan, the recently-dismissed commander of the Hiigaran Defense Fleet.
As Tantomile tuned into the newscast, Velam faced the camera and addressed the audience.
“Welcome back to Xenonian News, the galaxy’s most trusted news source according to 4 out of the 5 arthropods we nerve stapled. I’m Velam Nordström, and this is the second half of my discussion about the current state of the Taiidan War with Hiigaran Admiral Manaan and Galactic Council Secretary General Vestergaard. We’ve just finished discussing the ongoing fleet battle between the Partogan Satellite State Asalele and the Taiidani Republic, and now we’ll discuss the mother country itself.” Velam said, his eyes flitting from right to left as he read the teleprompter.
“Are our guests ready to continue?” Velam asked. The Secretary General and retired Admiral both nodded.
“The question we’ll discuss this half-hour was submitted by a viewer.” Velam revealed. “Kel-Azan schoolteacher Ekir Inaxinirkis says his class wants to know: “Partogan Queen Marie the Scholar has been in and out of hospitals dozens of times over the past few weeks as her heart condition continues to worsen. How will the Queen’s obviously imminent death change Partoga’s involvement in the Taiidan War? Will the famine and housing shortage in Paku Nui have any effect on the Royal Election itself? Will the Imperialist Taiidani be willing to accept the aid of a freshly-elected child ruler?”
Velam took a breath, faced the camera and then continued.
“There are over two million Partogan soldiers fighting side-by-side with the Imperialist Taiidani on some fifty battlefields all over the Taiidan War Zone, furthermore, some eight-hundred thousand Levakians have volunteered to fight on BOTH sides of the conflict, frequently doing battle against each other and occasionally even coming to blows with their Partogan overlords. In the midst of this all, we face the very real possibility that Queen Marie might succumb to congestive heart failure, leaving a freshly elected teenager to lead her Kingdom through a very confusing and complicated war. Do you, Secretary General, believe a Royal Election will change the nature of Partoga’s involvement in the Taiidan War?”
Secretary General Vestergaard seemed eager to speak.
“It’s the most important question in the galaxy right now! There’s nothing more chaotic and unpredictable in the whole cosmos than the Partogan Royal Election!” The Blorg squirmed in her seat with pure excitement. “Because Queen Marie is going to die young, this will be the first time that two Royal Elections happen within a single lifespan! It’s exciting for me, but troublesome for many! The unfortunate fact is that the Partogan Government keeps its list of Queen Candidates a closely guarded secret. To make things harder on analysists, a young Partogan girl has only a five-year long window where she could be elected. If she’s younger than 10 but older than 15, she’s out of the race. The near-annual turnover of potential candidates makes predicting the outcome nearly impossible.”
Admiral Manaan, however, spoke on the side of caution.
“Madame Secretary, there are some aspects of Partogan politics we can predict. Just three years ago when their country was threatened with war by the Turanic Raiders, the Royal Election concluded very quickly and a military girl was elected. Queen Marie was an Army recruit just barely out of basic training when she became Queen. Unfortunately, an undiagnosed heart problem tempered her victory, leaving many Partogans to feel like they’ve been cursed with a weak ruler during a time of war. If Queen Marie kicks the bucket tomorrow, (as she just might) then I’ll bet every Diram I have the next Partogan ruler will be either an Army recruit or a Navy cadet.”
Velam gave the Admiral a quizzical look.
“What makes you so certain, Admiral?” He asked,
“Because of the composition of the Partogan National Assembly.” Admiral Manaan explained, “Currently, the dominant political faction in Partoga is a coalition of Princes and Princesses who favor a pacifist and diplomatic approach to foreign policy. Every time Partoga suffered a military defeat in this war, that faction has grown weaker and weaker. Partogans and Levakians alike are looking for some vengeance against both the Republican Taiidani and my own people. Any girl who tries to emulate Warrior-Queens like Miranda the Great, Sophie the Merciful, or Madeline the Second will immediately win the support of both the militaristic factions and the seven Levakian Kings. She would be elected without any real trouble.”
“Why is it so important to win the support of the Levakian Kings?” Velam asked, “They’re a minority on the Partogan National Assembly, aren’t they?”
The Admiral took a breath, considered his words, then continued.
“The Partogan National Assembly is a minority-rule government.” He said. “Even though the Levakians have a minority of seats, their species makes up over 60% of the Kingdom’s total population. Any girl who can win the loyalty of the Levakians would enjoy near-universal support from all corners of Partogan society. She’d be untouchable! And don’t forget...”
Admiral Manaan waved a finger in the air,
“Partoga is in a defensive war right now. The Kingdom and its people feel threatened. Even the hardline Pacifists in the National Assembly might be willing to vote for a militaristic girl right now. That, Mister Nordström, is why I think Partoga’s next Queen is going to be a warrior.”
Velam nodded and turned to Secretary General Vestergaard.
“Well put, Admiral. Now, Secretary General, the Partogan government is under incredible international pressure to abandon their old ally, and its only getting stronger every day. Could the next Queen stand up to the galaxy? Or do you think she’ll buckle under the pressure, leaving the Imperialists to fend for themselves?”
Tantomile didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. She turned the newscast off and leaned against the wall of the situation room, thinking things over. She realized that they had briefly mentioned a famine in Paku Nui again. This was the third day in a row that place had cropped up in the news.
Paku Nui was one of the Seven Levakian Kingdoms, all of which were Vassal-States under the Partogan Queen. It also happened to be the largest and most densely populated of them all.
Tantomile wondered if her sister was still there...
Hesitating only for a moment, she pulled up the controls for the Shieldbreaker’s Hyperwave Relay.
Sys/ hyperwave communication system online... please select FTL comms target...
Cmd usr/ ---> target LVK Kakama – Partogan Royal Navy Levakian Contingent
Sys/ searching the Hyperwave Network... LVK Kakama found...
Sys/ negotiating with receiver... Faster-Than-Light communications established.
Tantomile sighed,
“This is the LVK Shieldbreaker calling the LVK Kakama. Come in please.”
There was a pause, and then a tired voice replied.
“Hi Tantomile. Do you know what time it is over here?”
“Yes, Coricopat. I do. Look, the Taiidan-to-Partoga time difference isn’t that bad. We’re only violating causality by a few days. Will you get out of bed and talk to me, please?”
There was a rustling sound over the speakers. On the other side of the galaxy, Coricopat was shuffling around in her bed.
“Okay...” Coricopat groaned, “What’s up?”
“Are you still on Paku Nui?” Tanotmile asked,
“Yeah.” Coricopat murmured. “My ship got stuck in the Waikawa Spaceport. We wanted to just get some fuel and keep going to Assuria, but all of the dockworkers joined the food riots. It’s like the Wars of the Famine down here. Where are you?”
“Neck-deep inside the Taiidan War Zone.” Tantomile replied, “I found an ex-separatist out here and I’m on the trail of an active one now.”
“Damnit!” Coricopat sounded frustrated, “All the way out there too, huh? There’s a lot of separatists here too. I can’t leave my ship. Planet’s crawling with’em.”
“Yeah,” Tantomile said, “I’m starting to think this Separatist Movement is really as big as we thought.”
Tantomile and Coricopat were silent for a moment.
“I know we’ve talked about this before...” said Tantomile, “But you didn’t answer me the last time I asked. Coricopat: If you become Empress, what are you going to do about the Separatists? Is Levakia even ready for independence?”
“I don’t wanna answer...” Coricopat sounded like she was going to cry. “Levakia can’t be independent yet! Have you seen the videos from Paku Nui? It’s chaos down here! We can barely feed our own people! Don’t those Separatists know that!?”
Silence once more. Tantomile put her hands on the table and looked down at the map of Partoga again. Her eyes fell on The Mangaia.
“Tantomile...” Coricopat’s voice wavered, “What about the Partogan Queen? Has she done anything about the famine?”
“She’s too sick.” Tantomile answered. “They say she’s still commanding troops, but it sounds bad. People are saying it won’t be much longer now.”
More silence. Neither one of them wanted to face the reality which had been slowly dawning on them since Jemima had told them to flee.
“It’s not going to matter which of us becomes Empress, does it?” Coricopat whispered. “It’s not even gonna matter which monarch dies first. The Separatists are gonna move as soon as they see a power vacuum. It’s gonna be chaos! Like Paku Nui, but on a galactic scale!”
“Yeah,” said Tantomile. “Partoga’s going to end up like Taiidan. Civil War without end... until there’s no one left alive who can remember why we were fighting in the first place.”
She looked at the map of Partogan space again. 116 star systems lay underneath the Green and Red flag of Partoga. None of the neighboring states were so big, wealthy, or powerful. Surely... this couldn’t be the end. Had Partoga’s star burned so brightly that its downfall would begin a mere five years after becoming a superpower?
“Maybe....” Coricopat was talking more to herself than Tantomile, “Maybe the next Queen will find a way to stop the Separatists. Maybe she’ll be able to keep the peace without fighting.”
“I’ll pray to the Mountain,” Tantomile said, “Beg it to give us someone like that.”
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Are you foreshadowing the new Queen here? You do know that you’ve told us her title (“the Peacemaker”) already,right?
And Tantomile is getting ambitious.
And the next Chapter is called “The Paradox”.That sounds ominous.
Also,why are Chapters 2-5 named and Chapter 6 isn’t? Does Chapter 6 have anything to do with the End of the Cycle, given that it’s in red?
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Ah, okay. Thanks for clearing that up.
Also I couldn't help but chuckle when I read this:
Overall, a great chapter. The news report really helped give an overview of the political situation the two sisters (and Partoga) are currently in.Velam Nordstrom said:
I've been foreshadowing Queen Kendra the Peacemaker since Chapter Five of After Everything. I'm okay with the name being out there.
Chapter Six is unnamed because (1) its the final chapter and (2) I'm going to write it in the same style as Chapter Five of After Everything. (No segments, high stakes, lots of action)
By this point, I think I've permanently associated red text with the End of the Cycle. That connection will last all the way until the end.
[In case anyone missed it, I added a Table of Contents to the very first post. It's for both my benefit and yours]
I had way, way too much fun writing that sequence. There's five alternate versions of that scene in my computer's Recycle Bin.
Tantomile said:
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Oh, yeah! I remember that! That's a minor detail from After Everything. I needed a language to act as a stand-in for written Levakian (obviously, I'm not creative enough to make up an entire language.) and I wanted to stay on the theme of "Pacific islander culture." So I picked Hawaiian to represent the Levakian language. It was noticably different from Partogan (which is the Maori language) without being outright alien. There's a small overlap due to both species living on the same planet for centuries.
I'm not going to use Hawaiian as a stand-in for Levakian this time around. Obviously, the lions aren't actually speaking Hawaiian, they have their own tongue.
This story is already going to have a "language barrier" plot point and I simply don't want to add a second one. It would just be confusing. So unless the Narrator specifies otherwise, all of the Main Characters are speaking their native languages with two exceptions:
- Whenever a Levakian talks with a Partogan, both parties are speaking Partogan. Levakians are subordinate to the Partogans, after all.
- Whenever two or more species are gathered together, everyone is speaking Taiidan. This is because the Taiidan Empire was the dominant power for thousands of years before it fell. Taiidan is the Galactic equivalent of English on Earth: Extremely common.
I’m commenting this bit in what stood in for “Levakian” in After Everything (Google Translate Hawaiian):
E kali, ‘o Mami Queen Kendra ka Mea Kiliamu?
(Yes,I did that for comedy,but the question is actually legitimate)
E kali, ‘o Mami Queen Kendra ka Mea Kiliamu?
(Yes,I did that for comedy,but the question is actually legitimate)
Damn, "The Comforter" sounds like a better title than "The Peacemaker."
In answer to your question: You'll have to wait for the Royal Election.
(DEAR GOD!! THAT WAS THE WORST TRANSLATION FAILURE EVER!!!!
)Lemme try again:
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Damn, "The Comforter" sounds like a better title than "The Peacemaker."
In answer to your question: You'll have to wait for the Royal Election.
(DEAR GOD!! THAT WAS THE WORST TRANSLATION FAILURE EVER!!!!
Lemme try again:
E Wha nga kaitono. (not "kotrio")
Kotahi Kuini.
Google Translate isn’t even self-consistent,wow. Blame it. (I warned you it was Google Translate...) Let me correct myself...Kendra ka Maluhia.
Also,both translations make some sense... (Four courts,apparently vs. Four candidates). Ok,I see what you mean now...
Yup, I was warned. This is why I use the Maori Dictionary website and the University of Waikato's database whenever I need to name a character, a ship, or a place. Not as fast or straightforward as Google Translate in my opinion, but pretty damn accurate most of the time.
Wow, I'd read the first two chapters of this story and I have to say that it's quite interesting! Though I'd never read Ender's Game before, if your story captured the essence of it then maybe I should give it a try.
Thanks for reading! Glad to see you around again!
Alright, this is the part where I confess to having never read Ender's Game. (Mea culpa!) I'll fix that over the next couple of days.
Chapter 1.5: Kinloka Squadron
Chapter 1.5
Kinloka Squadron
Officer Training School, Fort Daxia – Trecta Star System, Kingdom of Partoga
Caption said:
In Assembly Hall #15, one hundred Student-Soldiers stood in a tight formation, waiting to be addressed by their commander.
“Good morning Kinloka Squadron!” Drill Instructor Ruiha Tahana called to the assembled cadets.
“Good morning, Sir!” the class replied in unison.
Drill Instructor Tahana ordered the student-soldiers to stand at ease while he quickly reviewed a slip of paper. Once he re-read the sheet, the Drill Instructor looked up and addressed his class.
“Alright, everyone. First thing’s first: Let’s welcome back Cadets Tamihana and Mihaka. They both summitted the Mountain last week and are now legally adults. Congratulations to you both!”
The sound of applause and cheering echoed off the ceiling and made Mami’s ears throb. She felt several hands slapping on her back and she briefly broke out of the Position of Attention to shake hands with the Squadron Leader. (the student who was in charge of the class whenever Drill Instructor Tahana wasn’t around)
Once the clapping died down, Drill Instructor Tahana continued to address the class.
“Moving on, I’ve had to make some changes to the lesson plan. All classes today are cancelled.”
Murmurs and whispers began to fly around the formation of Student-Soldiers. At once, the Squadron Leader rounded on his classmates and said loudly:
“HEY! DID HE GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO TALK!?”
The Student-Soldiers fell silent. Mami looked sideways at the three other members of her team. Eteka looked nervous. Arahu Ranginui was paying very close attention, and Rapati Hipango looked like he was about to fall asleep standing up.
Drill Instructor Tahana continued.
“You will have the morning off, so enjoy your free time and relax. However, I’m ordering you all to return to this room, Assembly Hall 15, at 18:00 hours this afternoon. No exceptions. Am I understood?”
“Yes Sir!” The class responded in one voice.
Drill Instructor Tahana seemed to relax a little.
“Alright. Enjoy your day off, soldiers. FALLOUT!”
Mami, Eteka, Arahu, and Rapati all stepped out of the group and left the Assembly Hall. They made a beeline to the Recreation Wing. This was a massive section of the Daxia Starbase where the Student-Soldiers of the Officer Training School could spend what little downtime they had. But the members of Kinloka Squadron had been given the entire day off, and now all one hundred of them filtered into the Recreation Wing, determined to spend as much time as possible just being children and teenagers.
The Recreation Wing was packed full of things to do. Arcade games, dining halls, a performance stage, a large gymnasium with multiple pieces of exercise equipment, even a full sized Kohlii pitch could be found here. All along a distant wall was an audio entertainment station where Student-Soldiers could listen to music without bothering anyone.
Today, Mami wanted to listen to some Enutanga music. There were countless musicians and bands operating around the Galaxy, but there was only one who mattered to Mami. Enutanga the Silver-Haired Siren was Mami’s favorite singer, and the same applied to some 6 billion people across the Western Arm of the Galaxy. Sliding the headphones over her ears, Mami was too busy enjoying the voice of Partoga’s biggest pop star to notice that someone was approaching her.
Right when Enutanga’s voice had reached an angelic warble that could have melted the heart of the most brutal warrior, Mami felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw a familiar face.
The person holding onto Mami’s shoulder was Ensign Amaya Maori. She was the highest-ranked Student-Soldier in Kinloka Squadron and the most perfect person Mami had ever met. Amaya aced every test with maximum scores, hit everything she ever shot a gun at, won every fistfight, completed every simulation on the first try, spoke Levakian fluently, and was a masterful tactician. Everyone at the Officer Training School knew that Amaya was going to become an Admiral someday. As if that wasn’t enough, Amaya was also insanely beautiful, with sleek silver hair, a charming smile, and curves in all the right places. She looked, talked, and acted like an action movie heroine.
And now she had a hand on Mami’s shoulder. Mami wondered who had blessed her with such good luck.
“Hey Tamihana!” said Amaya, “Got a second?”
Mami pulled off her headphones and looked at Amaya’s teammates, who stood on either side of her like bodyguards.
Student-Soldiers at Fort Daxia were always arranged into teams of four. Usually, these teams would stay together from beginning to end, even doing the Graduation ceremony together. Team Maori, however, was only partially whole. One of Amaya’s teammates had flunked out of Daxia altogether and had been replaced with a new Student-Soldier. The original two boys were Oku and Eraka, they were both 14 years old. The new member of Team Maori was a 12-year-old girl named Paikura. She seemed to be taking her place on Team Maori way too seriously, and stood at the position of Attention while Amaya was talking.
“Just listening to Enutanga.” Mami replied, “Killin’ the time. What going on?”
Mami noticed that Amaya'’s friendly grin seemed to be hiding an annoyed expression.
“Well, I wanted to have a little team-building exercise with my new girl. Thought I’d take her out to the Kohlii pitch and run a few drills. But when I got there, all three of your teammates were there. The Ranginui kid said we had to “wait our turn” and that we could have the pitch when they were finished with it. Could you be a pal and just tell them to leave?”
Mami followed Amaya to the Kohlii pitch and saw what she was talking about. Rapati was guarding one of the goals at the end of the pitch while Eteka and Arahu were kicking ball after ball at him. Equipped with the traditional Kohlii staff (a long rod with a big hammer at one end and a scoop on the other) and a ballistic shield, Rapati was doing well against his opponents, sending most balls back into the pitch.
“See what I’m talking about?” Amaya asked, “Your team is in our way.”
Mami shrugged.
“You know, my guys need the practice too.” she said. “You sure you guys can’t wait?”
The two team leaders folded their arms and looked at one another. Then Mami had an idea:
“Tell you what, Maori. Let’s do some teambuilding together instead. My team on yours: Four on Four.”
Amaya clapped her hands together and looked excited.
“A game? Yeah, sure! Let’s play!”
Mami called Arahu, Eteka, and Rapati over.
“Hey guys,” Mami said. “Maori wants to play Kohlii with us. You up for it?”
“Hell yeah!” Arahu answered quickly.
“Alright, I’m game.” Eteka replied calmly.
“Uuhh... sure. Okay.” Rapati said noncommittally.
It took about five minutes to prep a full-scale match. Two goals, eight Kohlii staffs, two ballistic shields, and one heavy Kohlii ball were brought onto the pitch and put in place. When the pitch was set up, Mami and Amaya met in the center of the field.
“So, what are we playing 'till?” Mami asked, “Three goals or time?”
“Let’s just go to three.” Said Amaya. “I don’t wanna embarrass you in front of your teammates.”
“Oh, now it’s on!” Mami declared, “We’ll see who gets embarrassed!”
It was time for the game to start! On Team Tamihana, Rapati would play Goal Defender, so he got to carry a Kohlii staff in one hand and a ballistic shield in the other. Mami, Eteka, and Arahu would play the Forward positions, so they each got a staff. They reported to the center of the pitch to meet Amaya and her teammates. Mami, Eteka, Rapati and Arahu raised their arms in salute to the opposing team. Amaya, Uniki, Oku and Eraka did the same. (Oku was guarding the opposing goal) All eight players said together:
“Play well!”
Mami and Amaya met in the center of the pitch one last time while the other forward players hung back, ready for the action to start. Amaya gave Mami another polite smile.
“I guess I challenged you,” she said, “It’s only fair that you start with the ball, Tamihana.”
Mami nodded and then reached out with the scoop-end of her Kohlii staff. She catapulted the ball into the air and the game began! The Kohlii ball fell back down to the ground where Mami smacked it with the hammer-end of her staff, sending it downfield towards the opposing goal.
Mami, Eteka, and Arahu scrambled down the pitch after the heavy Kohlii ball, trying to send it into the opposing team’s goal. Amaya darted off to one side of the pitch and started to shadow Mami, watching her every movement. Whenever Mami shouted a command to her teammates, Amaya countered with either Paikura or Eraka. The two team leaders were having their own battle of wits, moving their teammates across the pitch like game pieces on a board.
Darting around the pitch, Mami effortlessly outmaneuvered young Paikura and brought the Kohlii ball to the opposing team’s goal. While Eteka and Arahu blocked Team Maori, Mami launched the ball out of the scoop-end of her staff! The ball careened through the air and Oku jumped to meet it! He missed, the heavy Kohlii ball just grazed his ballistic shield and went into the goal!
1-0, Team Tamihana leads.
Less than a minute later, Mami passed the ball to Eteka and he gave it a powerful punt! The ball rocketed downfield and struck Oku’s shield so hard that it knocked him over! The ball carried on and rolled into the Team Maori’s goal!
2-0, Team Tamihana leads.
Mami felt a rush of excitement! They were going to win with a shutout! They just needed one more point! Mami passed the ball to Eteka and he slammed it hard with the hammer-end of his Kohlii staff. This time, Oku deflected the shot with his shield and sent the ball towards Eraka. He passed the ball to Paikura, who passed it to Amaya. She struck the ball with her hammer and sent it screaming down the pitch! At his own team’s goal, Rapati saw the ball coming and raised his shield to meet it!
The metallic ball struck the top of Rapati’s shield, knocking him off balance! Rapati fell to the ground and the Kohlii ball rolled into the goal.
2-1, Team Tamihana leads.
“That’s okay, Rapati!” Mami called to her teammate. “Walk it off and get back in the game!”
On her left, Arahu saw Mami’s response to Rapati’s failure and scoffed.
Play resumed. Amaya seemed to have figured out Mami’s playstyle. As soon as Eteka passed the ball to her, Mami was boxed in by Paikura and Amaya and the ball was stolen from her. Mami called out to Arahu,
“Run blocker!”
Arahu stopped trying to steal the ball back, and instead, he simply placed himself between Amaya and the goal. Arahu would block the next goal attempt at all costs! Amaya rapidly changed her footing, trying to fake out Arahu. He wasn’t fooled. Meanwhile, Mami and Eteka had gotten around the flanks. Holding out the hammer-end of their Kohlii staffs, both of them were going to try and knock the ball loose!
Amaya saw what was coming. She held her Kohlii staff above her head, and using its scoop like a catapult, she sent the ball over Arahu’s head and directly at the goal.
“Come on, Rapati!” Eteka yelled,
This time, Rapati misjudged the ball’s trajectory and missed it altogether.
2-2, game point.
As Rapati prepared to throw the ball back into play, Mami encouraged her team.
“We’re not done yet, guys!” she yelled, “Play ‘till the end!”
“Don’t worry, Tamihana!” Oku yelled, “We’ll make this quick for you!”
Rapati gave Mami an apologetic look, then threw the ball back into the pitch. Mami ducked low, allowing Eteka to catch the ball in his scoop. At once he flung it to Arahu, who kicked and hammered the ball downfield, evading Team Maori. Mami ran parallel to him. Seeing an opportunity, she yelled,
“Here! I’m open!”
Arahu punted the ball across the pitch to Mami. She reached out with her Kohlii staff to scoop up the ball when a second staff appeared! Paikura had gotten behind Mami! Her staff struck Mami’s and both players ended up missing the ball. Eraka punted the ball hard towards Rapati!
Mami cupped one hand to her mouth and yelled,
“COME ON, YOU GOT THIS!”
It all happened in less than three seconds. The Kohlii ball struck the center of Rapati’s ballistic shield and bounced back into the middle of the pitch, right towards Amaya. She swung her staff in both hands like a club or a bat, striking the ball and sending it once more towards a stunned and shocked Rapati! He froze... and the ball sailed right past his head and into the goal.
2-3. Team Maori wins.
Mami sighed and started walking towards the Amaya to congratulate her, out the corner of her eye, she saw Rapati starting to talk off the pitch.
“I guess that’s my fault, isn’t it?” said Rapati gloomily.
“What?! You’re kidding!” Arahu yelled at Rapati, “That’s all you’ve got to say after making us lose!?”
Arahu threw his staff down in rage and stormed off the pitch. Rapati watched him go.
Mami hadn’t seen where Arahu had gone. She decided to send her two remaining teammates to the locker rooms to change out of their sweaty Physical Training uniforms before they did anything else today. Mami was about leave for the women’s locker room to do the same when Rapati touched her shoulder.
“What’s up?”
Rapati looked like he was having trouble picking his words.
“Uh.. Um. Well, I screwed up back there, Mami.” he said, “If you see Arahu, tell him I said sorry, and... Uh... next time... I won’t let you down. Promise. Whatever happens, I swear you can count on me.”
Mami nodded,
“Sure thing.”
Amaya waved and smiled at Mami.
“That was fun, Tamihana! Let’s do it again sometime!”
…
By the middle of the afternoon, the Student-Soldiers of Kinloka Squadron had utterly exhausted themselves. All of the games had been played, every physical training exercise performed, every wrestling match decided. All over the Recreation Wing, teenage Student-Soldiers were passing the time by sleeping, loitering, or just generally lazing about. Any conversation was carried out in a low whisper to avoid waking the sleepers.
At the far end of the Recreation Wing, Mami, Eteka, and Rapati had a dining facility table all to themselves. Rapati was fast asleep, head in his arms, while Eteka was tapping away at a tablet computer. Mami sitting mext to Eteka and watching him, nodding off a little more every time she blinked her eyes. Right when Mami’s head was about to droop onto Eteka’s shoulder, he said,
“I found him!”
Mami straightened up and stretched,
“Oh, good.” She yawned, “Where is he?”
Eteka brought up a map of Fort Daxia on his screen and pointed to a spot just above the Recreation Wing.
“Arahu’s in the Hypercomms room. Guess he wanted to talk to Irirangi. You heading up there?”
Mami nodded.
“It’s getting close to 18:00.” she said, “The Squadron Leader is gonna start moving people back to the Assembly Hall soon. You and Rapati head straight there. I’ll get Arahu and meet you in there.”
Mami got up from the table and stealthily made her way out of the Recreation Wing without alerting anyone. Since Mami had lived inside Daxia Starbase for most of the past four years, she knew her way around it very well and could find all of the shortcuts. Enter a maintenance hallway here, cut through a junction there, up that service ladder and poof! Mami had cut a twenty-minute walk down to five.
The Hypercomms room was a massive communication center dedicated to... well... Communications. The chamber itself was nearly three stories tall, with staircases and open-air elevators granting access to workstations embedded in the walls. Along the floor, thousands of computer workspaces had been set up for Royal Navy soldiers to use, and in the middle of the chamber was the biggest Hyperwave Relay in the Kingdom of Partoga. The spherical device rotated slowly in its housing, emitting a gentle yellow light as it worked to propel electromagnetic waves through Hyperspace.
At one of these workstations, Mami found Arahu. He was engrossed in conversation with someone. Mami could see the image of a Partogan girl on the screen in front of Arahu and recognized her at once. Mami was about to let him know she was there when she suddenly heard part of what he was saying. Mami walked backwards a few paces and hid herself behind a serverbank while Arahu kept speaking:
“-way too soft on the guy. Just once I’d like to see Mami really smoke Rapati, you know? Teach him some proper military discipline. He’s not gonna have a chill commander like her forever. She’s gonna get her own ship before any of us if she keeps acing her classes, and then he’ll be in real trouble.”
The girl onscreen spoke,
“You really think Tamihana’s that great? Or you just talking out your rear again?”
Arahu shook his head.
“No, I’m not, sis. Mami’s really incredible, she summited the Mountain on her first try even though she’d never set foot on the Homeworld before. That means something, right? You’ve just gotta meet her. I’m glad I did.”
“Ooookay, bro-bro. You can stop gushing now.” Said Arahu’s sister, “I had to make sure. And hey! Remember our deal, okay? She’s gotta get my thumbs-up first, remember?”
Arahu nodded. Mami finally realized she was eavesdropping on something that wasn’t meant for her ears. She cleared her throat and called out loudly:
“Cadet Ranginui! Are you in here? Cadet Arahu Ranginui!”
Then Mami walked around the corner again. Arahu was already standing up and shutting down the terminal, saying;
“I’ll call you back.”
On the screen Arahu’s younger sister, Irirangi, looked straight at Mami and winked before the screen went blank.
Mami ignored this and focused on Arahu, who was blushing a little.
“It’s about 18:00.” Mami said, “Let’s get back to the Assembly Hall.”
…
Mami and Arahu were almost late for their hit-time. With two minutes to spare they returned to the doorway leading into Assembly Hall #15 and were shocked and surprised to find it being guarded by two armed members of the Military Police.
They froze. One of the two MP’s looked down at them.
“Are you two part of Kinloka Squadron?” he asked.
“Uh, yes sir!” said Mami after a moment of hesitation.
The two MP’s looked at each other and nodded. The second MP opened the door.
“Go in.”
All one hundred members of Kinloka Squadron were milling about in the hall. Clearly the Drill Instructor wasn’t here yet. Mami and Arahu quickly found Eteka and Rapati.
“What’s going on?” Mami asked, “Why are the Military Police here?”
Eteka shook his head.
“No idea.”
Above the chatter of confused Soldier-Students, the voice of Drill Instructor Ruiha Tahana made itself heard.
“SILENCE!”
The soldiers of Kinloka Squadron all turned to face their commander. Mami, being taller than most of her comrades, simply looked over their heads. Drill Instructor Tahana was holding a list in his hands. Mami recognized it as the attendance sheet he read every morning before classes started.
“Soldiers!” said Drill Instructor Tahana, “When I call your name, you say ‘Here, Sir!’ Is that understood?”
“Yes Sir!”
And then Tahana began to take roll call. One by one, he marked off the names of every soldier in Kinloka Squadron, looking up from the list periodically to match a name with a face. Finally, after about ten minutes, Tahana reached the last name on the list. He looked up from his paper, then gave a hand gesture to someone standing outside the room. The Assembly Hall door opened up and two officers came in: A Commodore and a Rear Admiral.
The Student-Soldiers of Kinloka Squadron watched in nervous silence as their Drill Instructor had a conversation with the Rear Admiral none of them could hear. Mami felt a prickling sensation on the back of her neck and looked around.
No fewer than fifty armed Military Police had quietly entered the room and were now lining up against the walls, facing the Student-Soldiers. Then, Drill Instructor Tahana spoke those fateful words:
“Staff Sergeant Tunui... lock the doors.”
A general commotion rose around the hall as all the Student-Soldiers of Kinloka Squadron turned around and saw every door being shut and barricaded by the Military Police. Loud chatter erupted. Two or three members of the class had figured out what was about to happen. But before the news could spread through the whole class, the Rear Admiral called for silence.
“Soldiers,” said the Rear Admiral, “If you are inside this room right now, it means that Her Majesty Queen Marie has ordered you and your comrades to deploy to the Taiidan War Zone for a period of fifteen months. This deployment is part of a combat mission. At 06:00 hours tomorrow, Kinloka Squadron will join Task Force Hydruka and you will all be assigned to your ships. Task Force Hydruka will then depart Fort Daxia at 07:00 hours. When I give the order, your Drill Instructor will take you through the Deployment Processing system to ensure that the entire Squadron is ready for combat. Make no mistake, you are being deployed, END OF DISCUSSION! As of this moment, you have graduated Officer Training School and are all promoted to the rank of Ensign. Drill Instructor Tahana, take charge of your troops.”
Mami’s breath was lodged in her throat. Was this really happening?
“Is this really happening!?” Paikura gasped, “They’re sending us to battle already!?”
“Looks like it.” Replied Eteka. “This is the real thing... We’re going to war.”
END OF CHAPTER ONE
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You just had to end on a cliffhanger…
So,how long until the interim is posted? Does your definition of “week” start on Sunday or Monday?
So,how long until the interim is posted? Does your definition of “week” start on Sunday or Monday?
Have just stumbled upon this gem. Have read the posts thru the first page. Just wanted to drop in to say I’m enjoying immensely. Keep it up.
Cheers!
Cheers!