Collection
Chapter 44
-VB-
Ambassador Kuran Liao
Victoria System, Capellan Confederation (contested)
3004 November 2 (conti.)
The ship that his shuttle landed in, the Maw, was no less impressive than the monster outside and parked right next to it.
The massive corridors were unlike any other ship he'd stepped foot on, and the artificial gravity was … astonishing. This technology alone could revolutionize space travel, but he also knew that this couldn't be the end. If it was, then the Capellan Confederation wouldn't have lost a dozen worlds to a Leaguer nomad.
His guards, the four rare marines of the CCAF, walked in a square formation with him in the center. They were tense and almost trigger-happy.
As for why they were…
The thing ahead of them paused and looked over its shoulder. "Are you sure you don't want to leave these four behind?" it asked worriedly while gesturing to the four guards.
"I am sure," he replied with a tight smile.
Wearing the facade of an attractive young woman, the thing in front of him was anything but a woman. It was a metal machine feigning life. It nodded and continued forward. It was unnatural, just like the glimmering jewel embedded on its chest. It was a form meant to dissuade, disarm, and seduce.
But he would not be.
Then they reach the end of the long corridor. There was a vault gate in front of them. With but a wave of its hand, the vault gates unlocked with a clunk. What seemed like one solid door was actually two doors, and they slid open in both directions.
And on the other side of the doorway was a large if plainly decorated oval hall of some kind.
Inside of it, a single man stood waiting for him at the other end of the hall.
Taking a deep breath in, he gestured for the guards to wait out here and stepped into the hall. He kept his back straight, head high, and chin up, but his heart thundered as he continued to encounter unknowns.
And finally, he found himself on the other side of the hall's center from the man.
The man looked a little different from what ComStar had on file for Edward Arlaoskas. A bit bigger than the stated height on his file. Bulkier than ship captains and mechanics; both of which were what he was known for. Authoritative instead of a rugged vagabond.
"Welcome. I hope no one bothered you on the way to this hall?" Fleetmaster Arlaoskas asked politely.
"No."
"Good. Refreshments?" he asked and waved his hand.
"... If you have something refreshing to drink, then I would appreciate that."
He nodded and waved his hand.
One of the pillars at the edges of the room came apart into -.
Kuran froze as a humanoid servant slid into shape from the pillar and came forward carrying a silver plate with a drink, a small dish of salt, and a loaf of bread.
"The salt and bread are there if you want to take part in a hospitality ritual."
He hesitated for a second before reaching out, breaking off a small bit of the moist bread, dipped it in salt lightly, and then ate it.
The fleetmaster walked over and did the same. Only then did Kuran take the water cup and drink.
… That was very refreshing.
The maid servant - with a different kind of gemstone on her chest - curtsied and left, reforming into a pillar.
Was there a pillar?
"Once you master material engineering and miniaturization to a certain level," the fleetmaster spoke up. "Things like walking through walls become a reality to a select few who are willing to … shed their mortal bodies," he hummed. "Of course, Jessica was never human but as far as she is concerned, she took a step from the kitchen and came here without time passing for her."
"I … see." There were a lot of implications and outright statements of superior technology in those words, but not much that Kuran could do. "I would prefer to get down to business."
"... Very well." The fleetmaster's light mood evaporated and turned to face him fully with a blank face. "I offer the Capellan Confederation a chance for peace. Acknowledge that the worlds whose systems I currently occupy are now part of a new nation, and I will stop further attacks. Acknowledge as well that all four systems adjacent to the Aurigan Coalition's borders now belong to the Aurigan Coalition as well. The confederation will also allow freedom of travel - without customs inspection or the like - for those bearing my fleet's sigils, insignias, and flags within your territories, though I will subject your ships in my system to customs."
"You can't expect the confederation and the chancellor to accept that," Kuran asked, aghast at the daylight robbery being suggested.
"You can either take it as I say or, after you leave, I will perform another takeover of many other systems in Sian Commonality. Let's say… everything rimward of Shiba, Prix, and Madras."
"And you think you can hold them?"
The fleetmaster gestured to the pillar. "You saw an artificial life in creation. I do not need any of my future soldiers to be at her level of intelligence. For the cost of a single true AI, I could create a thousand mindless soldiers, and I already have hundreds of such artificial intelligences on my ship alone."
"And you think that mindless soldiers are strong enough to overcome the will of the confederation's people?"
"No."
"... What?"
"I do not," the fleetmaster shrugged. "But since the confederation has flagrantly ignored the rules and laws of war, I also decided that nuclear bombardments are on the table. Or rather, they have been and I have merely chosen not to use them."
"If you use nuclear weapons -!"
"Nothing will change because the confederation cannot contest me in space," he drawled.
Kuran bit his tongue and held himself back.
That was ultimately why he was here.
The Capellan Confederation was now facing three enemies, and out of them all, the fleetmaster and his fleet were the most damaging and powerful.
"Allow me to confirm your fears for you. I can drive both The Maw and the Onslaught over Sian right this instant and crack the planet open like an egg," the fleetmaster whispered. "But I have not. Because I don't care to do so." Then he paused. "However! It is imperative that a show of force is necessary, if only to prevent you from execution when you deliver my ultimatum. So… I asked you to meet me here over Victoria I - A, the only moon of Victoria I."
Then he snapped his fingers and a screen appeared on the side of the room.
On the bottom right corner of the video, he saw the dropship he came here on. On the left side of the screen, he saw the tips of the giant ship, supposedly the Onslaught. And in the center of the screen was the barren rocky moon. It filled the screen with how close it was.
"My darling Onslaught is equipped with four naval self-reloading missile launchers that I have dubbed as the 'antibreve,' and has two plasma cannons at the prows. Please, observe both of them in action."
The Onslaught fired.
Bright bolts of plasma, not like a laser, quaked through space like a menacing executioner's blade and punched down onto the moon's surface. A single shot burned and scorched a crater. After that single test shot, the Onslaught fired full auto.
Murderous bolts of orange plasma rumbled forward and slammed into the moon's surface repeatedly.
And Kuran watched as the once quiet, rocky, and cold surface of the moon turned into a hellscape of lava, splintering surface, and earthquakes.
Into this hellscape, four missiles flew.
The missiles shined like a falling star. Bright and persistent like a ray of hope.
And when they landed…
A bright explosion erupted at the heart of the molten and cratered plains.
Then the moon's surface shattered.
"The antibreve missiles currently loaded upon the Onslaught are not the greatest of its kind, merely ones fit for … active combat use," the fleetmaster hummed. "Would you like to go to the bridge to see the damage to the moon yourself? Your guards can join us."
He nodded and gestured for the guards to step into the room.
The machine woman also followed in and stood next to the guards.
The doors closed… and then there was a whirl.
Kuran's eyes widened.
This was not a meeting hall. It was an elevator!
Then the doors opened to his left.
Kuran instinctively turned to look.
And his eyes widened.
The guards did too and they also froze stiff.
A red, orange, and yellow weeping wound on the surface of a gray moon was almost like an art. The way its surface had shattered around the molten surface …
It was horrifying.
A destructive art that foretold what could have happened if the fleetmaster had been willing to take this fight to its extreme conclusion.
"If you would like, then you can take a copy of this recorded weapons test to transmit to your chancellor," the fleetmaster spoke up casually. "It will do him a lot of good in convincing that he should take the offer right here and now."
"I… I will."
"Good. Then you may return to your ship, ambassador, and you may land on Victoria II to use their HPG station."
-VB-