E. A. de Moya -Copyright - 2009

With the Stroke of a Pen…

By E. A. de Moya

Copyright - 2009

The great fleet stood ready to move into position and be the last stand for all mankind. The gleaming hulls danced in three dimensions like snowflakes on the wind as puffs of reactant jetted out in small-calculated bursts. Each carried its occupants, humans linked with the crafts so hull and skin were one, and a single horrible weapon, a “Darklight” emitter, which jutted out from a central axis of each ship. That weapon was based on an accidental discovery that certain magnetic fields entwined with and attuned laser light emanations called “Darklight” disrupted the bonds, or atomic glue within a nucleus. The damage wrought by Darklight was so horrible, that it stood banned from use as a weapon, for over a hundred fifty solar years. Casting Darklight over matter, released energies, which had not been in existence since the first instance of the emergence of matter itself, the very creation of everything. Its existence, so horrible, ensured a golden age of peace and cooperation on earth, that humanity had never known, ever. Humanity finally joined as one in peace, not from some higher philosophical reasoning, but from fear itself. The reality of the free energy Darklight provided without the existence of waste, and the fear imposed peace, freed mankind to turn his face upwards and explore the solar system.

Little did mankind know that they were being watched, tracked, gauged and targeted. This became evident when, as the first breed of new human Darklight powered ships crossed the orbit of Pluto, they were set upon by bulbous greenish ships and destroyed by a swarming cloud of exploding homing mines so numerous that they appeared as a mist of rippling fire in the dark cold of space, overwhelming anything in its path. As the significance of the sudden annihilation of its ships began to sink in, humanity was about to receive the shock of its entire existence. On earth, and Luna base, on every device, in every home, office, laboratory, spaceship, and vehicle, a message was broadcast in every language humanity understood, announcing that the enemy was on the way, in mass, to rule on mankind’s existence. To prove that the destruction of its ships was not some interstellar coincidence, Luna Base was to be destroyed five minutes after the end of the message broadcast. They informed us that we had two solar years to prepare, prepare for what was more likely than not the end of humanity. Five minutes later, Luna base exploded in a ripple of the same mines used before. Minutes later two bulbous green ships, humanity had taken to calling “Harbingers” entered orbit at equal distance around the earth.

After three months of deliberation, three months of living in abject fear under the watchful eyes of the two bulbous green ships, humanity struck back. For the first time in over a century, two land-based modified Darklight emitters were used as weapons to destroy the Harbinger ships. It seems that man had decided that it would not go quietly, into nonexistence. Since the decision to strike back, humanity began to modify every ship in its fleet, commercial craft, private craft, transport ships, garbage scows, with Darklight emitters, for the last fight for the existence of man.

Now, two years after that horrible message, the Darklight hell to be unleashed at the approaching enemy fleet waited for the signal command of one person and one person only. Sweat dripped down Admiral Renee D’ange’s face as he leaned over the holographic map of earth space. The war room bunker, far underground, was cold and clinical. The room had, before harbinger contact, been a deep storage depot for archaeological finds. The “tomb”, as some had taken to calling it, was accessible only by a quantum conduit. It was large, self-contained with two Darklight power generators, and environmental processors. The lighting was a cool blue to decrease damage to the now missing artifacts. Admiral D’ange’s face reflected its blue hue with the occasional flash of red and white coming from the holotable. Things did not look good for the home team, he thought. What are they waiting for?

Earlier this day the warnings went up from automated navigation satellites in far solar orbit. As they went off line, the truth became known that they were here, just as promised. The enemy came in on earth from every direction, slowly coming to a stop just outside of the effective range of the Darklight beam equipped ships. Their numbers were staggering, one million ships per each human defender. Seems that the enemy uses a sledgehammer to kill a gnat. Thought the admiral. Humanity’s chances were nil, but they would bloody the nose (or whatever) of the Harbingers before the human flame went out forever.

Just as the tension in the room reached the point where it could be smelled, the door appeared in the wall, slid into quantum existence and disappeared. A small group of humans entered the tomb that the Admiral stood in. “We are changing plans Admiral.” The tall blond woman said.

“Miss Arthur, does the Global Alliance Leadership want us to go down swinging or not?”

“Not…. Admiral.” She said.

“So we live on our knees, is that it?”

“Admiral, we have a new angle.” She said.

Admiral D’ange could not believe his ears, but he knew a final decision had been made. “For whatever reason, they have agreed to take us on as…ah junior members, of their organization.” She said. “Slavery is not an answer to this…invasion,” he said

“True, but you know the nature of man. Can’t you take the long-term view? What is time, one hundred years, one thousand years; as long as there are humans we can do what we do best.”

“And that is?” the Admiral asked.

“Adapt, and overcome,” she said. “Stand down admiral. Put your trust in human nature.” The Admiral looked into her green eyes and gave the code in a quantum link, for the fleet to return to ground. He slowly closed his eyes and breathed a rattled sigh. “Don’t despair Admiral,” Heather Arthur said. “If we are right, I almost feel sorry for the bastards. Not today, or tomorrow, but some day they will get buyers remorse.”

Some sense of an uneasy relief crossed the Admiral’s face. “If I am to become a slave Heather, I don’t want to do so on an empty stomach, or without your company.” He said slowly looking into her face.

Her face lit up and a smile stretched wide. “Renee, I thought you would never ask,” she said.

Two weeks later, with a stroke of a pen, Earth history recorded that on January 3rd, 2251, the human race became slaves to the Harbinger, now known as the Voltu, invasion force. The future looked grim.

January 3rd 2851.

Force Commander Janice D’ange stood in the war sphere of the lead Voltu battle ship overlooking a yellow and blue green planet designated Xil. The planet was surrounded by colliding silvery dots like liquid metal, joining and separating. That’s a tough defense grid Zi, what’s the estimated loss on our side?” The grey floating orb next to her emitted a trill sound. “English Zi not that language you Harby’s speak!” she snapped at the orb. The lead ship’s command and war room smelled of Harby, Dangle, Jelssik, human and several other members of the Voltu Expanse Organization. “Don’t forget who runs this organization.,” she thought as she stared at the floating gray blob.

“Most apologetic is unit Zi, is answer 2% loss to annihilation point.” The orb spit out quickly.

“Inbound message from designation Xil, commander,” a small blue being said while standing next to her.

“Playback and translate. Dill Dangle,” She barked. The blue being clicked its eye, in response. The halo grid moved into place in front of the commander’s face and ignited into a glow. The face was avian and had a large number of feathers framing its face. There were other avians in the background, each with fewer feathers than the cantered face. “Hello pretty.” She thought. Just then the beak on the center avian split vertically and opened and closed to a soft chirping sound. “We offer our race as service for yours. We hold that life is hope and hope is life. We to seek one day we will take our place with you as equals, in harmony and purpose. What is time when compared to hope and life? We seek your answer and pull our defenses back.” The silver dots collapsed into the planet leaving a lush peaceful globe.

“Did you hear that Fredrick?” Force Commander D’ange said. Under-commander Fredrick Stewart, looked up from his console and smiled. “Sure did commander, just like the Wolf beta 3, Gandees 4 and the Tibx 32 civilizations. Sound familiar?” He asked. It the situation was almost straight out of the book. “Standing orders from earth?” he asked.

“Yea,” she said, “Burn them down, Fred, everyone. No survivors.” We are our own lesson, she thought. Never a slave, ever again. “With an attitude like that, we could be working for them in a few hundred years.” She said. After all, we are only human, she thought.

The fleet ships hummed… and the light was so dark.

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