Castaway by Polarisk at Inkitt

Chapter 1 : Contact 2-Over

It is the 13th of June in the Human Calendar, in a far, far distant cluster of stars, thousands and thousands of light years away from Earth. On a sole frontier mining colony of System 698-Beta, also known as the Venture Star System, lies a sole taskforce of space ships of extraterrestrial origin. Gliding into the star system’s thin cloud of debris, unnoticed and unperturbed at a steady pace. The ships were not of any human designs ever made. The ships were distinctly sharp in shape, like that of a sword being beautifully ordained with fine craftsmanship when compared to ships of human designs.

If anything, it’s like comparing a fancy ink pen to a utilitarian pen.

There at the edges of the solar system, are where the ships are located. A group of, what is a human designation of a medium sized fleet in structure. The extra terrestrial fleet is being operated by the human designation of a Battleship, and is accompanied by a pair of Heavy Cruisers, followed by five Light Cruisers, nine Destroyers, seventeen Frigates, and twenty-five Corvettes. The battleship is being followed by what seems to be the largest in the task force, of what is a ship type called a Carrier, with five supply vessels circling it and ten support ships circling the two most important ships in the fleet. The large Carrier holds dozens and dozens of small craft of varying roles, like that of a fighter, bomber, and an anti-ship bomber. And as it implies, the ships around the battleship are getting busy, as the Shipmaster and the Admiral of the task force have begun their conversation, regarding the operation they will now commence shortly.

There on the top of the flagship, named ”Justice High“, is a dome like area where the ship’s navigational bridge is located. That is being encompassed by what seems to be heavily reinforced glass that peaked through the command centre and the cosmos. At the centre lies a catwalk like area, in which a large sofa like furniture made out of soft materials and reinforced metals that oriented it around like a throne. The one sitting on it is what the humans called it, a mantis, a rather large one at that. Sitting down at a meter and sixty tall, the dark coloured praying mantis silently observed the gigantic hologram. Showing a total of seven planets, and seven other smaller planets that surround a similarly familiar star of yellowish orange, though in this case, it’s more orange than yellow and slightly larger than Sol.

The humanoid mantis on the throne, adorned with what seems to be ancient greek like robes of colour purple, then looks at the mantis in front of him that seems to be busy on a circular console as it speaks. Its mandibles on its cheeks opening in and out, and it’s lips like mouth opening unnaturally for a human-like face to do, called out the captain in front of him.

"Fleet Shipmaster. Status report of the star system.”

The Shipmaster flinched for a moment, and then stopped whatever it was doing and bowed beneath the tendrils of the larger mantis on the throne.

"A-Admiral. The star system is what the data was described by the Home Council. Barren, with only limited planets being habitable. With the rest being either gaseous planets, or solid planets that are too toxic of an atmosphere to be lived in. Especially of our species, and the ones of the Second and Third Worlders.”

The Admiral did an equivalent of a puff of air, startling the few officers on the bridge, as he then finally stood up from his seat and tower over the rest of the crew with his eloquent two point one meters tall frame. Showing off his authority for all the bridge crew on board, and for his voice to be vibrated with confidence to the entirety of the fleet comms.

“I see... So O’heet must have made a mistake then...”

The Admiral said out loud, simply because of how the star system they are looking at, seems to be quite different from what they have been speculating to have looked like.

The Admiral then swayed his front legs, to show another holographic interface of a star system. This time however, it looks slightly different from what they are looking at the present. It lacks the abundance of heavenly bodies, and its worlds are arranged differently than the one currently in front of them. Yet it has a similar star. The one on the holographic image, is what the Council calls; The Luminous System. A habitable system of just one planet with its eight other compatriots, and lacks its extra five worlds that the Committee has speculated.

"Navigator, are we on the speculated star system that our operation is tasked with? Or am I supposed to be blind to the number of worlds I can count with my naked eye?”

“You are not impaired my Lord! W-w-we are on the correct path, though our coordinates do not match on the speculated star system with a 3% miscalculation, however, we do have matching readings on the planets and the... Aliens... We are subjugating... Have a 98.6% accuracy of the data we have acquired, and are targets of our Great Queen has authorised.”

The Admiral remained silent for a moment, before grunting, as the Navigator then manipulated the gigantic hologram to present the speculated star system and the Luminous System, with all the minute details being presented on each planet with excruciating detail. Though clearly different from each other, it has a very striking resemblance, aside from the extra planets unaccounted for. The star system has four barren planets, one habitable planet, two gas giants, two water worlds. The extra five being closer to extraordinarily large asteroids than planets with their non spherical shape.

“Elaborate the details throughout the fleet for those ill informed. Those fools would be complaining that they can’t do much if they are in another empty star system.”

“Affirmative Admiral!” The bashful Navigator bowed beneath the height of his tendrils and proceeded to fiddle with the consoles next to him.

Observing this, the Admiral wondered if continuing this operation really is a strategic choice for the Confederation. Technically speaking, it is not like he was worried if the operation will not be successful, in fact, it is the opposite. As the fleet he has now is more than suitable to subjugate a species with technology as lack luster as the data being currently provided, perhaps too much even, but one cannot be too careful. No, it isn’t that the thought of failure is what he is worried about.

The Religiosa species have been around space for nearly seven thousand nine hundred forty cycles now, with experiences of previous space conflicts that could make a hatchling gurgle in delight of the light show they displayed on the night sky. Of course, in the Confederation’s victory. However close calls did happen, especially with the Third Worlders. The Third Worlders are the third species that the Religiosa have abducted under their Council for equal prosperity among species. The Admiral knows it’s all talk to make it seem the Religiosa are innocent of the insurrection, but in fact it was the opposite. He was there after all when they decided to make an example of one of the important core worlds of the Third Worlders when they decided to rebel from the Home Council to conduct a war of independence.

The War of Independence failed of course, and under his command, he stopped the war as a praised war hero. Thus boasting the egos and pride of the Religiosa home worlds and his promotion to Grand Royal Admiral. However, he prefers his title to be called Admiral to not waste more words of the already long syllables needed in their language.

It may sound like he is empathizing with the Third Worlders, but he isn’t as much. In reality, he seems disappointed that they began to do their foolish war of independence, knowing the fact that they are outmatched in all ways, and even decided to excrete the idea that their deity was a fraudulent mortal on a prey’s skin. The Third Worlders have got that situation to themselves to blame, they are already gaining more benefits under their ruling with technology, culture, cuisine, and religion. It’s almost an act of mercy when they were founded by his ancestors nearly five thousand solar cycles ago, and yet, they received those benefits with the low price of being a part of the labour force. The divide among their species only got worse instead, with their treatment returning to days of those solar cycles ago with the rebellion.

It may have been fifty cycles ago, but the rebellion definitely remained its aftertaste, and it left a bad taste to the Religiosa pride, that an inferior species made a larger dent in their resources and finances than the minor damages predicted. Thus the sanctioning of their core worlds and recontracting of economic laws are being brought upon them to reciprocate their losses.

However, why the connection between these Aliens and the Third Worlders? It’s simple, and that is their technological prowess.

Despite the lackluster technology and firepower of the species they are currently seeing now, the fact that the Aliens have only been in space for five hundred cycles is rather concerning, because it was the same way the Third Worlders have almost won against their integration into the Confederation all those solar cycles ago. The Religiosa species, despite their brilliance, only managed to build their first interplanetary bases eight hundred cycles in the timeline of their early space exploration. The fact that these unknown species did it in just five hundred cycles is quite impressive and must not be ignored at all. The reason the Committee has known of their approximate age, was because of the data they have received from a very, very old and antiquated probe of potentially six hundred to seven hundred cycles old. It was decoded and deciphered, in which the probe’s name is called ”Voyager 1“. Or is it Venture 1? Some say it is Adventure 1. Whatever its actual translation is, it is being accompanied by several pictures and information that was saved from the rest of the data, that was corrupted or too damaged from the journey to be recovered from an archaic style of storage.

To say it sent shockwaves has sent interest and fervour throughout the Home Council of a mysterious species outside their star system, was an understatement. For context, the Second and Third Worlders are within their cluster of star systems, and are so close to one another, that the Second Worlder’s star can be seen in the night brightly. Out of the twenty seven stars, seven of which are within their cluster of star systems, and only three were considered legally inhabited, with the rest outside of the twenty seven, being described as empty with intelligent life on their level, or too different of an atmosphere to be suitable for colonization. While the other worlds vary, the Admiral knows there is more sentient life than the studies or politics implies.

That’s because their religion also stated that it is impossible for life to live outside their view of the stars. This was also backed up by their scientist, that it is simply impossible for life to happen outside of their galactic cluster, and that the circumstances between them and the other species were coincidental at best. However, with the presence of the species called ”Hu’mns“, it threatened not only their religious standing, but also their species as the sole apex of the galaxy. Schisms already began as far back as fifty cycles ago, in which one of the effects of that is the rebellion of the Third Worlders. The Home Council immediately put an embargo on any Hu’mn related media and crackdowns began very strongly. The Grand Queen, also known as their deity’s descendant, proclaimed Hu’mns as a blight of the world that must be eradicated. Thus, the gospel was spread as fear seeped into the population.

However it didn’t quell the rebellions, as it only strengthened it. It also didn’t help that they don’t have evidence of the Hu’mn’s barbaric nature as they claimed, and the ones on Voyager 1 are spotty at best due to its age and failing data. Thus, a Grand Expedition was conducted to search for these Hu’mns as much as possible to find them, and bring evidence of their barbaric ways. If there wasn’t, fabrication is needed as long as the Hu’mns are present to stop the rebellions.

Luckily for them however, they did spot one. It’s not a planet however or the Luminous System, but a sole Hu’mn ship. That Hu’mn ship, which is speculated to be an exploration vessel or a research vessel, have led them to the Luminous System. For fifty cycles, they have finally spotted the aliens after cycles of waiting and recalculating the potential coordinates of the corrupted data they have recovered from the probe. Their efforts were finally rewarded by their Goddess, and a celebration was induced among the Home Council to focus on the problem of their rebellion. At the same time, the rebellion too, was at its highest as they finally found their interloper that could possibly save them.

A rather foolish hope, the Admiral inwardly thought to himself. Though he admired the Third Worlder’s strong will, it is just simply a losing battle to hope the Aliens would come to their rescue, when the scans on their technology show that there is no Faster than Light capable ship, that only proves their point of no rescue. In fact, there is no single FTL capable infrastructure present, despite their five hundred cycle long timeline as an interstellar species. Even the Third Worlders, despite their primitive technology, have at least a form of a not so different, old Religiosa First or Second generation Warp Drive, which only allowed them to hop within their star system effectively without dilation and time penalties. In this case, the Luminous System that has been inhabited by the Hu’mns have none of that, and seems to rely on sub light engines.

For the First Contact species of a speculated powerful race of aliens outside the scope of their galactic cluster, they seem rather... Pitiful, and even ignorant of the clear presence of their fleet slowly advancing into the first planetoid.

It’s almost too easy of a fight, he could already see the excited look of the young crewmen of the Justice High. Already salivating and excited to get their kill of the unknown threat to their mothernest. Hopeless as they are to propaganda, the Admiral admitted that at least they have the drive to commit this mission. That is enough for him, and for his troops to finish the task as efficiently as possible. It’s almost as if his worries about the species were nonexistent with the low level threat they pose to be.

Nonetheless, he is worried about the species’ fast technological advancement in space in such a short amount of time. Especially when they don’t even have concrete information of the species as a whole, and with only superficial information they got from the probe as a pillar of their operation. They don’t even know if the species is allied with other alien races, or if they were the sole one. However, based on the analyzed data, it seems to be that the Hu’mns either got lucky or unlucky, because information gathered on the unexplored star system shows no other intelligent activity, and only the Hu’mns are present. At least based on their scans that showed barely 90% certainty.

In other words, it was a safe path for them, but not for the Hu’mns. It is really rather pitiful, especially that their First Contact is the Great Religiosa. Yes, the Admiral felt pity on the very young interstellar species, if it were his way, he would’ve contacted them as a vassal for the Confederation to nurture that quick advancing skills to a good use. Just like how the Fourth Worlders were treated. Though in the Fourth Worlders’ case, they were so primitive in the eyes of the Home Council that they revoked that plan and proceed to subjugate the planet with almost little to no resistance, with how easy it was for a non interstellar species to capitulate and serve the Religiosa indefinitely. Unfortunately for the Fourth Worlders, their home planet was occupied indefinitely by one of the more powerful Religiosa Clans, a powerful clan of influential Religiosas that have crowned themselves on the planet. Ceasing their status as a Fourth Worlder and thus, putting them to the legalized category of less than intelligent lifeforms like the other worlds.

The Admiral knows that it is the latter they are choosing, by simply subjugating the alien species to show to the rebels how useless and needless their hopeless rebellion is.

′What an anti-climatic end for this species.′ He thought in disappointment.

“Prepare the System Jammers!”

The Admiral demanded as the bridge of the Justice High came to life, and then two of the support ships then separated from the fleet, followed by three more being shown on the gigantic hologram coming along in a line.

On the outside, the five stubby looking ships of barely two hundred claws in length, that looks like a beautifully ordained stapler, began to take their positions slowly on the perimeter. The ships then got in front of the fleet, charging something between the mouth of the stapler ship like a crackling tesla coil. The bridge of the Justice High then approved of the firing sequence. The crew and the Admiral then put on a helmet like apparatus that protects their eyes from the sensitive light, adding with the dimming of the windows of the bridges of the ships, the Admiral grunted and the sequence reached into a climax.

“Engage.”

With a bright light blinding everybody for a moment, the communication systems of the fleet rattled and flickered like a whispering wind, and just like the wind, it was momentarily affected by the EMP blast before turning back to normal like nothing happened. Just like that, the hologram then shows as multiple of the Hu’mn vessels and satellites have gone dark. Including the ones on the habitable planet, like a flame that ran out of air, it simply stopped living.

The five jammers are too much of an asset being used in a tactic, as it could even potentially damage their own ships, if used in a reckless manner. However, it is a necessary strategy to keep unwanted events to fallout if a sole jammer only did it alone. At worst, an ambush would occur as useless as they are with modern sensor suites mitigating that issue, it is still a possible scenario if left unchecked.

And as the Admiral predicted, they could hear multiple communications of Hu’mn in origin. He made the right call on using five, instead one or two, as it seems the Hu’mn made machines are much more durable as also predicted, but not enough to be powered back by an indefinite time. With the Hu’mn stations and ships incapacitated, it wouldn’t take long for the fleet to blitz straight towards the Hu’mn core world. As they destroyed multiple stations and ships within months time, with each sector they manage to close in, they hear more and more communication systems from the Hu’mn resistance, blaring louder the closer and closer they get. There are brave ships here and there, but it is practically futile, as the weapons they carried are of rather odd designed, they are firing physical projectiles that burst into a small explosion. In which then a small piece of the weapon flies straight to the target, however it isn’t as accurate as compared to the plasma weapons they have, nor as destructive as it just only made a scratch. So it isn’t as valuable of a find.

The corpses however, are the ones that intrigued them. In a simplest sense, they have a whole different evolution tree, seeing it from the holograms of analysis of the charred bodies, from the explosion of their alien ships. Yet, despite that clear difference, the one that heavily got their attention is their upper bodies. Especially how close the resemblance is to their own, just without the beauty and elegance of a Religiosa’s blades, thorax, and wings. It’s simply like a naked and declawed version of their species. Especially their front limbs where the claws are supposed to be, instead they have extended dextrous tendrils and lack the ability to slice someone cleanly, for that ability to hold items more efficiently. It is rather much closer to a female Religiosa trait of having dexterous appendages, than a male Religiosa, however, they don’t know what the Hu’mn females look like if their males have traits of their female counterparts.

For the Admiral, he did hear the theories of scientists, mainly from O’heet himself, of how evolution sometimes rhymes with other species. Proof of this is how there is a similar animal like the Religiosa, only smaller, less intelligent and without a claw. Despite the similarities, it is a whole different species. So he is not surprised, but he is shocked and rather uneasy of the differences being looser than he expected, but he is not stupid enough to say that they are some evil ghost, or whatever make believe tales of youngling stories they are presented. Though, he already noticed the aggressive reactions of most of the crews of the other ships and, even the ones inside Justice High feel appalled and disgusted, of the rather similar looking species.

If they deemed the Alien species rather insignificant a few moments ago, now they deemed it a pest and a righteous evil to be struck, for imitating the likeliness of their species. The Admiral, as a religious follower, knows that those Hu’mns are not some monsters lurking in the deep, as he knows that the scriptures aren’t being literal with the temptresses of evil, as an actual living organism. But as he viewed it, it seems that not a lot of them made that connection. Even the Shipmaster is adamant of not letting one single Hu’mn alive and pursue eradication, as the only way.

“. . .”

Looks like the Admiral has to remind these fools that their purpose is not eradication, but subjugation. As he cleared his throat, just loud enough for them to hear him to focus on the operation. Seeing how weak the response was, he hoped that they would finish this affair as soon as possible. After all, he still has a mate and nymph to take care off back at home at Excel.

“. . .”

However, little did the Admiral know of how long they will be dug in that accursed planet.

Little did they know, on how long this mission will drag their entire species into a new level of interstellar conflict never before seen ever, or possibly since.

Little did they know, on what they have unleashed in this uneventful mission in galactic history, that hides itself under a footnote.

Little did they know that history was about to begin, and they will be the ones who will witness it.

[... Mining Colony Aquarius-B, System 698-Beta, connection terminated...]

[... Attempting to reconnect to the server terminal... Connection cannot be obtained... Attempting to Locate server address... Connection cannot be obtained... Attempting to connect to Head Server Engineer 1 and 2... Contact cannot be initiated.]

[Contacting System 698-Beta, executing Emergency Response Service System, Level Black... System Execution cannot be done. Resolving issue... Systems cannot be resolved, emergency repairs need to be initiated to conduct the activation of the Emergency Response Service System.]

[Connecting to the Emergency Backup Communication System... Contacting the closest star system for the Emergency Response Service System.

SOS.

SOS...

Connection cannot be initiated. StarNet Communication device is damaged, needs repairs to initiate function.]

[... Code Black Emergency. Contact of the Solaris System cannot be initiated. Contact of A:SSJ System cannot be initiated. Executing Local Emergency Response measures. Evacuation probability... 21.7%, survivability of emergency evacuation ships are at 12.297%. Cannot be executed. Begin reactivation of Ark Ships, revitalisation at 10.8%, probability of usage is 2.4%. Cannot be executed, ships survivability below threshold, occupancy cannot be directed...]

[...]

[... Local General AI will ask permission to promote the original copy, SAI-698-Beta Venture, for the Emergency Response Service System, for reactivation in accordance with threat level response, as directed...]

[...]