08-14-2015, 02:16 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-14-2015, 02:18 AM by Rannoch.)
"The Last Emperor" is the third in a set of experimental writings I've been doing told in the same universe. This third set differs from the first only in the method in which the story is told, the story itself remains the same. The first copy was 1st person, the second third person, and this one is a third person perspective that starts at the end with flashbacks to the past used to tell the earlier story.
Reposting permissions are granted provided credit is given to "Rannoch."
I won't say much more as a lot of the story is told in the form of questions that will need answering. That's what keeps you reading! I will write this in small, several paragraph segments that I consider "press ready" and will likely still commit frequent revisions (at least if the edit timer is lifted) Without further blabbing, the first chapter begins here:
Chapter 1: A Different Sun
The cell was dark. No light from the outside was permitted at this level of the ship at all, save a set of red emergency lights. They were running dark, surely. He knew their destination was Sol, and there was only one way there. The Terrans called it the "Atria Belt," a almost humorless jab at what once had been. It was the remains of the Atria Line, where the Imperial Fleet had attempted to stop the beginning of the end. They had failed of course. The whole region was now a debri field of past pride, lost glory, where a once proud fleet had been decimated and forced into disintegration. The region was now a haven for pirates, small groups of Imperial Rebels fighting under various banners, and those who have something to hide. Regardless of your allegiance, the goal in the Atria line is no longer to know what is coming, but to hide from it. Sensors are off, the bridge crew is manually navigating the belt, and they have little time for the prison level.
He was almost happy when the red lights flickered briefly, and turned white. It meant they had left the belt, and the ship was charging it's jump drives to full capacity. He had almost hoped they would not make it through, that he would die in a collision with one of the many debri objects out there, become one with his peers. The bridge crew of this ship was skilled, he was not so lucky. The ship lurched as it aligned itself with Sol, and then fell into complete and utter silence.
The silence lasted for what could've been an eternity. It did not matter here. After all that had happened, he could use some silence. From where he was taken, the docks at New Haven, Trisad, homeworld of the Empire, he had heard enough. The crying of the people, the scarves and scraps they used to cover their mouths, to try in vain to filter the dying planets atmosphere. The screaming of the people trying to get food off the Terran aid trucks... once he left the dockside, once he crossed the gangplank to the mainland, he knew he had made a mistake. He should never have come here. The Boson had been right, the rally call had been a trap. There was nothing at New Haven, only death.
None of that mattered anymore. He barely noticed when the cell door hissed, depressurized and slid open. Two Terran guards stood side by side at the door opening. He ignored them. They didn't pay attention to him anyway.
One of them took a step in and gestured: "On your feet." He said. "Captain wants you on the bridge."
"What is it this time?" He sighed. They only summoned him to the bridge when they had something to show him... something painful usually. They had summoned him once at the beginning of the Atria belt, and it was purely for media show. They wanted to show their war prize, standing Emperor of Trisad, in full discrace in front of his decimated fleet. The fleet wasn't even his, he was the supreme commander of the Imperial Navy, not the star fleet, but it did not matter. As highest surviving officer, he was emperor. He was all they had. He had to do his people proud... such was his office.
The walk down the hall was more guarded than usual. There were uniformed guards at every door in a strong show of force. What did they expect? For him to escape? Into the depths of space? Surely not. No, this was different. This was for the media. They must be reaching the end of the jump. Radio contact with Earth would be established soon.
The bridge blast doors slid apart and they stepped onto the bridge. In the center command platform stood the Captain, Commander Jackson, enrobed in a blue hue from the subspace field. He did not know his first name. He was not afforded that. He was not afforded much.
Jackson smiled. "Welcome to Sol, Emperor Medina!"
As was certainly choreographed, the ship suddenly lurched backwards, as if something had grabbed it right out of the sky. The blue field on the frontal viewports fell away and gave way to a huge glowing yellow orb. It was huge and blindingly bright. He couldn't help but feel it was in appearance much like his hosts emotions towards the empire: Full of rage and fire.
Shades extended to cover the blinding brightness across the viewports. It was certainly a shock and awe display for him, there was no reason they had to wait to lower the shades.
His eyes were still quite blinded by the brightness as the room darkened. That may have been part of their plan as well.
Despite the darkness, Jackson was glowing with pride. "You needn't worry about the subspace rupture, we're in quite a hurry you see, so we aren't dropping smoothly. We're keeping just a little below the speed of light.and using the star's gravity to slingshot us to Earth."
"Why Earth?" Medina asked. "Why waste time with that ruined world?"
Jackson cocked an eyebrow curiously. "If you had captured me, would you not bring me to Trisad? Surely my Emperor you are not that dense. Earth is the birthplace of man. We all come from Earth Emperor..."
He paused dramatically. In the corners, he now could see the media cameras. And so it began... This claim that they all came from earth was just another calculated insult for the public's enjoyment surely. Jackson knew those who served the Empress did not believe that... But he did not care.
Jackson let out a sigh of joyous relief. "...And to Earth we return!" he declared, beaming.
In the distance, a brownish orb began to grow larger. They were almost there...
The brownish orb continued to grow over the next 5 minutes or so, until it became large enough to nearly fill the viewports in front of them. Features were visible. There were continents and a large amount of liquid water, but the liquid water had a brownish tint to it and was filled with what appeared to a blackish oil hue. Thick grey clouds orbited the world, and in the center of what he understood to be the Northern Americas, lay a crater. In the center of the crater lay the wreck of a great starship, still visible from orbit, spewing forth it's own light and blacking smoke into the atmosphere.
It had to be his.
Jackson spoke now, his voice laced with hatred and contempt. "Yes, this is your doing. Earth is in ruin because of your kind."
Medina shook his head. "This was not our decision. You forced our hand. We..."
Jackson cut him off. "You bombarded a world filled with life with nuclear warheads, and destroyed nearly all it's ability to support life. And then when you realized your fleet could not maintain control of the system, you crashed your command ship into the center of our republics government, venting radioactive material all throughout her descent. Look, emperor, the vents on the starship are STILL venting that material. You have killed earth. Killed it... and you claim to love life! To worship it? What a mockery you must be to your people..."
Medina shook his head. "This was not my decision. That falls on the interpreter of the speaker of the sky... you should judge him, not me..."
Jackson frowned. "We can't, emperor. That particular commander went down with his ship, along with his "speaker."
He said the word with such mockery. Such lack of respect. The speakers WERE the empire, the interpreters only carried their words. And yet they insisted on calling us the only thing they could find in their culture to compare us to: Emperor.
Emperor. The word was such a filthy mistranslation he did not even know where to begin...
When Medina spoke next, he spoke with a rage. "And that authorized you to do what? Return the favor? You boiled our oceans and brought death from the sky to our own beautiful Trisad. Homeworld of the empress! Birthplace of man and beast alike! I know it looks the same if not worse than this...
He was smiling. Fucking smiling!
He raised his voice to an outright yell. The cameras closed in on him. He ignored them. "You did this! You brought that destruction upon yourself by threatening our sovereignty. We are NOT your long lost "colonists." We are the descendants of Herne and Tria, and we carry in our hearts both their bloodlines, both their spirits and souls!"
He paused to catch his breath. "We are nothing like you..."
Medina seemed quite content to have that ourburst on camera. "Tell comms to prepare begin raising MARSCOM. I want this fed to the people Sol as fast as possible." He smiled. "Thanks for the show... doe fucker."
Medina could not express his contempt for that phrase. And so he would not. He would not fall again to the prodding that was clearly happening here. He knew that Jackson's comments would be conveniently edited out anyhow.
One of the officers on the bridge shouted out "Sir, MARSCOM is hailing us on an encrypted SOLSAT link."
Jackson turned from his smirk and brought his attention back to his crew. "Put them on."
"It's still a distant link sir, audio/data only." The officer elaborated. " Looks like a 15 second latency between pulses. Here's the first transmission. Prepare your response at transmissions end sir."
"Understood" Medina replied. The bridge filled with a sligthly distorted voice of an automated AI presence. "Unidentified warship. You are entering restricted starspace of the Sol Federation. Reason for the starspace restriction is being transmitted to you in binary little endian ASCII set of the English language. Please identify yourself if you are authorized for this deployment, or alter course immediately to avoid forcible and lethal course alteration from the Sol military."
The viewport screen filled with a HUD displaying relevant details. It had only two items of note, the system's name, Earth, and the status of the sector: MILQUAR. Medina knew what it meant, but he was sure it would soon be explained anyhow.
"MILQUAR is short for Military Quarantine, that's right, our planet is so polluted the inhabitants must now be treated as toxic waste... They can't even escape their own doom."
Medina held his tongue. He had plenty of ways he could compare several notable government figures in Sol to toxic waste, but that would only be used against him.
"Vengeance: Prep recorded reply." Jackson was speaking to the ships onboard computer. Now Medina knew the ship he was on: The Vengeance. At least they were taking his capture seriously. But why? He was a naval commander, he wasn't even involved in the war on nearly any level. All the combat had been on Terra firma.
"To whom it concerns, I am Captain Jackson of the Sol Federation. I have the prisoner, Identity classified. Docket number 0377. I am transporting him to Earth for trial. Request authorization for MAGDEF passage and to establish a sub lunar orbit..." Medina paused, and then declared "Vengeance: Terminate recorded reply. Transmit."
He grinned. "We aren't taking any chances with you. You are QUITE the article aren't you?"
He had quite a number of things he could say, but Medina would not fall for that again. He took on the air of a diplomat of the state, and did his duty. He spoke now with an official air:
"I am the supreme interpreter of the Sea forces of the United Empire of the Holy Doe."
He paused. "Since the other speaker and interpreters have passed, and the death of the supreme empress confirmed, my speaker is now the empress and may represent the empire. If my speaker is not with me, I have no authority to speak on behalf of the empire. Please bring her to me if you wish to speak of state affairs."
Medina had not wanted to bring this up. He knew what he would likely be told.
"Your "speaker" is dead, emperor. Standard protocol dictates we cannot transport livestock off system." He smiled. "Don't worry, it was quick. It was painless. I understand she was incinerated..."
His words faded off. Medina couldn't stop himself from shedding a solitary tear, but otherwise, he cut himself off from the outside world. He would not weep, not break down as they had planned. He had known this was coming since they locked him in that cell. He had already planned his response, and shed his tears in that cell days ago. He knew what this meant, and more importantly, what he must do.
"In that event, the laws of United Empire dictate that I, the last interpreter of Trisad, am the head of state."
He spoke the words with the kind of sadness that only death of a loved one could bring. He breathed out what would've been a sob, and uttered one last phrase "a most tragic office, and fully your peoples doing. I will not speak again until I see an appropriate representative of the Sol Republic."
He broke that promise only moments later, but only under his breath so no one could hear. The cameras would surely not pick it up. It was but a whisper... and yet a whisper full of rebellion and hate. It was all he could muster, and yet it would have to do.
"You people are monsters"
Sounds like a very intriguing story. And is well worth the read.
I do hope there's more. You really had me with, "United Empire of the Holy Doe".
But; you need a bit more, 'ship building'. What did the ship that was crashed look like?
Was it cylindrical, a disk, a 'four mile wide battle fortress?
And this dumb farmer is having a bit of a problem with keeping everyone straight.
Not at all sure what a 'speaker' is? Or for that matter, an 'interpreter' in this setting.
Or what the two sides were fighting about?
The majority of those questions are intentionally vague, but will be answered soon (next couple of paragraphs soon). The ship is traditionally explained in the next chapter, but it could perhaps use more visual detail in explanation. I will revisit that soon.
This story doesn't really need much editing, just continuation. I've been waiting 2 years for the next installment. *chuckles*
sw
08-01-2017, 12:05 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-01-2017, 12:06 AM by Rannoch.)
Heh, I rewrote this from scratch under the "unnamed" story bit. I forgot I even wrote this.
Of course, the location in which it takes place is changed, it's very different.
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