《The Exiles return》Chapter 5: The Silver behemoth
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“Gods… why must I be sent to the edge of the void?”An Elven male wearing a captain’s uniform sits in a chair and rubs his eyes. “I should’ve stayed a farmer..”, the Captain sighs. He is Galanthar Javius, a Captain in the Elven royal navy.
Galanthar is no ordinary captain. He is the captain of the Eden, one out of the 3 most powerful void ark, called mega-void ark, that the Elven realm possesses and the oldest void ark still in service. Built 3 centuries ago, the Eden was made into a flagship and fought in several wars, and the Eden is also the most decorated void ark of the entire holy realm. Obviously, the crew of the Eden took pride in their job at the ship.
Galathar had worked his way up to being the Captain of the vessel and becoming a respected leader. He was born a commoner in the outskirts of the capital city in the Elven capital world of Zenith and joined the army a year before the current Queen Merula took over. Despite being a commoner, and thanks to the Queen’s reforms and his own hard work, he had risen through the ranks and was appointed the Captain of the Eden by the Queen herself.
Unfortunately for him, he became captain at the worst time. You see, the Elven realms’ new Queen, Merula Zenith, initiated several reforms aimed at improving the lives of commoners. This doesn’t sit well with the aristocracy to no one’s surprise. Since the current Queen ascended the throne, there has been an ongoing political struggle between the crown and the aristocracy, which divided Elven society.
And now, Galanthar, is entrusted to escort the void humans to Zenith, along with the Eden and a fleet of 6 void arks. This is because he is the last loyal captain of a mega-void ark who is loyal to the Queen. While the other captains of the mega-void arks are of noble descent, Galanthar wasn’t, he was a commoner who’ve risen through the social structure thanks to the Queen’s reforms.
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A knock on the door is heard. “Captain, we’ve arrived at their location,” a voice coming from behind the door called out to him.
“Right, I'll be there,” Galanthar replied.
“I’d suggest you get out if you want to see something magnificent,” the voice said to the captain.
“Fine,” said Galanthar as he stood up from his chair and fixed his uniform. He heads out to the door and opens it, finding his adjutant to be the source of the voice. His name is Aglevis, and he joined the navy about 2 years ago, so he was relatively inexperienced.
“I knew it was you,” said Galanthar as he looked at his adjutant, “so, what is it? What’s the magnificent thing you were talking about?”
“Come with me”
Galanthar followed Aglevis to the deck, he noticed that upon leaving the captain's quarters, the surrounding area was quite empty. Presumably all the crew went to the deck to look at something that Aglevis told him about. As he arrived at the deck, he saw all his crew staring at something in the empty space. When he turned to look, he could see what could only be described as a heavenly construct made by the gods, several gods. The silver behemoth struck fear and awe to those who witnessed it, at least that’s what Galanthar felt, he couldn't be sure for the rest of his crew, he’ not a skilled mage.
“A-aglevis? What is that?” Galanthar asked his adjutant.
“The void humans I presume, Captain” Aglevis responded to his captain, who was still observing the silver behemoth with keen eyes.
The captain turned his head to him and asked, “T-that’s them?”.
“..probably” Aglevis shrugged his shoulders.
Composing himself, the captain said, “Well, I need to be prepared to welcome them onboard,” the Captain said to his adjutant, he then faced his crew and shouted “GET BACK TO WORK YOU BUFFOONS!” The crew who were watching the silver behemoth ram the wreckage without a scratch reacted to his voice and immediately went to work.
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“Well would you look at that,” Major Philip said as he looked at the wooden galleon floating in space, “pray tell that the nerds back home could figure out this black magic?”
“How the hell could they breathe out there?” Captain Gonzales spoke.
“Probably some absurd law of nature in this galaxy..” Ambassador Hawk answered the captain, “..or it’s probably because of their species’ characteristics?”
“Could be..” replied Gonzales, “should we meet them?”
“Ofcourse, it would be rude not to. Plus, we're on a diplomatic mission anyways,” Hawk said.
As they closed their agreement, Max came to them and reported on something that relieved the group.
“Sirs, i have news from Terra,” Max announced. "Brers has been retaken, and the majority of the insurgent’s fleet has been destroyed”.
Hawk raised an eyebrow, “is it over?” he asked.
“It is predicted that it will be over in about 6 earth months”
“Well thank god for that” Philip exclaimed, “that pointless insurgency has been there for 10 years! My daughter’s younger than that war!”
The Brers insurgency was caused by the dissatisfied populace against the central government, based in Terra. At the end of the war, massive protests erupted across millions of worlds under the control of Terra, many of the protesters demanded that the president take responsibility for the 1 trillion casualties caused during his presidency. The casualties came from the multiple offensive operations meant to break the stalemate in the war.
In the end, the president resigned due to ‘health issues’ and elections were called. There is growing uncertainty during this time of great divide, human society was divided politically, and this enabled radicals to rise into power in regional offices. Violent protests erupted in many parts of the republic, and many wonder if a civil war might happen. Especially when the presidential election draws near.
The presidential candidates were the center-right conservative Evelyn McBloom and the National Democracy party, and the left-leaning Maxwell Dubois MacMillan and the Liberation Party. One advocates fixing the economy and the other wants to make people's lives better in the post-war era with social programs. After months of anxious waiting, Evelyn McBloom and the NDP won the election.
People rioted after the election results were announced. Some say the NDP bribed election officials, and some say Evelyn's husband, the incumbent Supreme commander in chief of the Terran National Military pulled some strings here and there to favor his wife and the NDP. Whatever it was, people started to riot.
The riot in the Brers region was especially violent; in the planet Brers, Brers system, the local government was overthrown and declared independence from Terra. Many fear that this moment will spark a massive civil war, however, the National Intelligence Agency has suppressed other rebellious activities.
Some military personnel and spaceships defected to the Brers side, and declared them the 'Free Army', and vowed to overthrow the 'illegitimate' government of Terra.
Their rebellion went well, until the Terran military started to concentrate on them after dealing with other matters.
Senators in Terra petitioned to just obliterate planet Brers, but that was quickly shot down.
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