en kort historie fra/a short story form the-last-ghost

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————Part two————

Orks. How apt a term for those creatures. It seems somehow… fitting. As if any being who heard the name would know, somehow, deep down, just what the name described. They were nightmarish creatures and to this day we still pray that they are truly gone. Were it not for the Terrans, I don’t believe we would have survived.

War came, as it so often does in the vastness of space. With it came feats of untold and unfathomable glory coupled with loss beyond reason. The texts say that through it all, the Terrans never stopped fighting, they never stepped aside for relief, and they did unspeakable things to ensure our victory; and for those acts, they were banished. For you see, the Terrans were beings of a seemingly singular focus; in this case, it was victory at all costs. As I said before, they turned their skills from peaceful exploration to that of pure war and show us wonderfully horrible devices and techniques that could be used. At first, I don’t believe the USF fully understood the history of these Terrans, for their temperament when they joined the Federation was at complete odds with what we were expecting. According to their history, war had been a part of their society for as far back as they could trace it. Life and death was a constant cycle for them and they lived their lives with the absolute certainty that it could come to a very sudden, very brutal end at any moment. I remember reading some of the old texts about their history and the things that were mentioned, to this day, wake me from even my deepest of sleep. There was a story that spanned back eons of their history, back to a time where war on a near planetary scale was common. Back in those days, their people were divided into clans that claimed various parts of their world and would fight for resources as most fledgling species tend to do, but for them, it was more than survival; it was also a matter of so called, “pride.” Many of their stories tell of their people standing against foes that would outnumber them five to one and they would win! They would survive even the most devastating of blows and somehow steal victory from the jaws of defeat. Then there were the tales of their losses; which, oddly enough, sometimes were victories themselves. There would be stories that speak of a lone Terran standing before an army and choosing to fight, knowing that they will die and doing it anyway. For, to them, death in battle was preferable to life in servitude; and in dying for their beliefs, they would start a fire in the hearts of others to stand for the cause they died for and sometimes, they would win. The tales of the Terrans victories among each other were astonishing to hear and, were it not for the sheer body count, mass graves, memorial sites, and records, the USF would have been hard pressed to believe it. Still, even with physical proof, there were some things the Federation just wouldn’t accept as a plausible thing any civilized species would even dare to do. I saw the footage while I was on Jurhan-3; I saw the genocide, the mindless slaughter of their wars, and read the first-hand accounts of the survivors. All of that was believable and made me glad that we never had to go to war with them, but it’s one of those things they did to themselves, just to prove a point, that made me realize why the USF council went with their decision on the Terrans banishment.

As the war against the Orks raged on, it became clear that the normal methods of war would not suffice. These creatures were too enthralled with the slaughter to be demoralized with the losses they were taking. The Terransrealized that the creatures would fight until the last one fell but they believed that if they were able to kill of an abhorrently large amount of them, maybe, just maybe, they would retreat long enough for the USF to recover. While the USF council discussed the merits of such a tactic, one of the advisors asked if there was even such a way to inflict that much damage and death at one time. To which the Terran ambassador proceeded to tell the story from ages past of when they nearly brought their world to ruin for the first time and the means by which they did it. They would not give the details to us about the conflict that lead to this tragedy, no doubt ashamed or humbled by the experience, for whenever it was spoken of, the sorrow was felt by all. All they would say is that, in order to bring an enemy and the accompanying war to a swift end so as to not cause anymore undue suffering, they detonated two bombs in their own biosphere that, had they been much stronger, could have turned the land itself into a glass-layered, radioactive wasteland. This act caused the enemy to surrender unconditionally but caused the various clans to start their own research on how to create these devastating weapons. The rumor they gave us was that by the time they were formally banned some centuries later, the clans had enough of the bombs combined to be able to turn their entire world into an ashen wasteland, devoid of all life; themselves included.

Now, the Terrans had had these weapons banned for thousands of years due to the fact that their use was an absolute; nothing would survive, and nothing would be able to live wherever they were dropped again for hundreds of years. It was with a firm hand that the council forbid the use of the weapon and started the search for a peaceful resolution. Around this time, there was a single Ork raiding party that had managed to slip into Federal space and lay waste to an Intrali colony and slaughtered many hatchlings; nearly the whole generation was lost there. The Terrans viewed this as the utmost taboo; the killing of the young in war. When it became apparent that the USF would likely lose the sector and many more innocent lives would be lost, the Terrans did the one thing they swore to never do again; they recreated these weapons. More precisely, they built it using the modern technology of the time which caused the bomb to be much more devastating that anyone would have imagined. When they decided to use it, we realized just how ruthless they could truly be. They formed up every ship they could and pushed in to the center of the Orkish controlled systems and, having lost nearly every craft along the way, set out for the world where it was believed that the enemy WarLord was located. Upon confirming the WarLords location, they sent one of their Alpha-Class Capital ships, the Endless Void, on a mission to drop the bomb. No one was prepared for what happened. The detonation was larger than what their stories lead us to believe it would be; much, much larger. All I will say of it is this; there is a hole in reality where the world used to be; where time doesn’t seem to matter, where the cosmos no longer cooperates with the laws of nature, where reality itself just… stops.

It is said that the system is gone; that all that remains is this blur in reality where the war was ended. It is said that if you are to fly near the space where it occurred, if you listen, you can still hear the screams. Naturally, when the USF council banished the Terrans from the Federation and labeled them, “Extremely hostile/unstable. Do NOT approach” there was very little shock. The entire Federation was in collective shock at what was done and yet, the war was over, of that there was no doubt. The attacks stopped, the dead-zone was now empty and explorable, and an unsteady peace was returned to the USF. Although, everyone knew the cost of it; and while the death of the vicious creatures was of little concern to many, the sheer amount of death caused was humbling. An entire system was, still to this day, brought to ruin and countless trillions of lives were brought to a horrifying end.

Since that day, the Terran sector of space was formally blockaded and banned for all USF persons to travel to; and while many were curious to see what they were up to, none were brave enough to risk the wrath of either side. Slowly, their involvement with the Federation became less and less well known and the history behind it passed into legend and then myth; that is, until now. For now, before my exploration force is arrayed a lone cruiser, obviously fitted for battle, showing signs of significant and recent conflict, and hailing us on the ancient Terran frequency. The message they send is as haunting as is their appearance from seemingly nowhere… They are saying but five words in the common tongue. Five words which fills me with naught but dread, though I do not know why. All that is heard over the comms is this… “Beware. For they are coming.”

————End Part two————