Broken Stars (Universe on Fire Book 1), page 9
And now he was in the interrogation room again, and again he would do the same. Their questions hadn’t changed much from the first time. They wanted to know about Qash’vo’tar, about technology, military power and the like. And Ajiha had answered as best he could without revealing anything that could damage the Qash’vo’tar. There was no point in lying—once the next convoy arrived and they realized what was going on, the Qash’vo’tar forces would retaliate. And this time it was going to be much worse.
Ajiha knew that the politicians back home had been trying to figure out a way to contain the Humans without wiping them all out, but this would force their hand. In their eyes it would prove just how dangerous the Humans truly were. The only regret Ajiha had was that he knew that the Zhal Confederation would find this planet eventually, and that the Qash’vo’tar would have no way of masking their signature after they were done. And that would only make the relations between the two more tense.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by the door opening. He looked up expecting the Human that had been interviewing him since his imprisonment, but instead he was met with a familiar face. The Human liaison Anthony Smith walked into the room. The expression on his face at seeing Ajiha was that of sadness. Anthony sat across from Ajiha and sighed.
“I had hoped that it didn’t have to come to this, my friend,” Anthony said.
Ajiha swallowed his first response. “It didn’t need to come to this, you are the ones who did this.”
“And what did you expect us to do? To bow down and live in the mud with you reigning from the stars? We asked you, over and over and over again, to help us understand what it was that you wanted from us. And what did you do? You repeated the same lies,” Anthony told him heatedly. It was the first time Ajiha had seen the man so agitated, and he realized just how much their interactions had been an act on Anthony’s part.
“You weren’t ready, and your actions only proved what we already knew,” Ajiha said.
“Don’t you dare lie to me again, not now,” Anthony said. “We have recovered data from your computers. Yes, you tried to wipe them clean, but humanity has spent a long time developing our computing tech while we were forbidden from going into space. We know that you had no right to do what you did, that you never could’ve uplifted us.”
Ajiha closed his eyes. His technicians had assured him that the Humans would not be able to recover any data from their computers. Their bias against the Humans had made them underestimate them, the same way that the Fleet had.
“The decision was not mine to make, I follow,” Ajiha said slowly, shamefully.
“Tell me the truth, please, my friend. Perhaps we can still salvage this. Earth does not want a war with the Qash’vo’tar, we only want our freedom,” Anthony pleaded.
Ajiha shook his head in a very human manner. They had probably realized how mighty the Qash’vo’tar were, that humanity had no chance in a war. He did want to tell him the truth, but his training and duty warred with his sentiment for the being sitting across from him. They had become something akin to friends over the years. And finally Ajiha allowed his emotions to win over his duty.
“The truth is that the actions that put us on this path were a mistake,” Ajiha said almost in a whisper. He saw Anthony’s eyes widen and his mouth open to speak, but he instead closed them and allowed Ajiha to speak.
“You don’t understand how dangerous you really are…” He grimaced as he remembered his younger days, his education and the horrifying he had learned during that time. “Races such as yours are rare. The ones with such diverse extremes. You claim that you are united now, but you are not really. There are still groups within your planet that have such a different set of beliefs that you are constantly in conflict with them. And even those that are united are different, they pride themselves on their differences and cultures. And that is dangerous.”
“Why?”
“Because of the Val'ayash.”
“Because of what? What is the Val'ayash?”
“Not a what, a who. Long ago, this area of space was ruled by a powerful star nation called the Zhal’Qash. It was founded by two races that both evolved in the same star system. Over their rise to the stars the two became very much intertwined, and once they left their star system they did so as a united entity. And as they explored they met other races and eventually those raced joined with them. It was a slow process but this joining had the inevitable outcome. As the time passed the races integrated and became part of a joint culture, each abandoning something of their own and adopting something of the others. Until the Val'ayash. They were a young race, one that much like your people had been very much divided. Their encounter with the Zhal’Qash forced them to present a unified front, so the separate entities of their homeworld united in name only.” Ajiha paused as he remembered the history. He needed Anthony to understand, even though he knew that he could not. His people could not imagine the horror of what came next.
“Then,” Ajiha continued, “the Zhal’Qash uplifted the Val'ayash, accepted them into their nation. But the Val'ayash were wary, and while they had accepted most of the Zhal’Qash conditions, they did not integrate into the whole. They used the technology given to them to spread far and wide, and all the way the fragile unification of their race grew even more unstable, and the Zhal’Qash, unsure how to react, simply watched. Until a single faction among them, one risen from an old religious sect from their homeworld, gained power. The faction managed to unite the Val'ayash, and the Zhal’Qash looked on relieved. They didn’t understand what had happened, of course. The Val'ayash sect became even more isolated, they did not adopt the culture of the Zhal’Qash, nor did they share their own. Their beliefs became more and more corrupted as new leaders added to their myths and teachings. And then suddenly their betrayal came.”
“The betrayal?” Anthony asked, and Ajiha realized that he had gone quiet.
“Yes, their betrayal. The Val'ayash had spread far and wide. They had all the technology of the Zhal’Qash. And they struck without mercy and without hesitation. They began a crusade to wipe out all life other than themselves. You see, their teachings taught that they were the chosen people, the ones tasked with bringing all other races into the embrace of the ultimate creator. To them the horrors that they inflicted were not an abomination, but a gift. Their mission was to ferry the souls of the dead into the true life, where the souls would live on as gods. They actually believed that they had been contacted by a divine being, the Creator.” Ajiha shook his head, unable to even comprehend a belief like that.
“They would kill entire planets with billions of inhabitants in their mad crusade. Unleash such horrors that I dare not speak of them out loud. The war against the Val'ayash Apostates lasted for centuries, and in the end it broke apart the Zhal’Qash. The area of space we are in now was the old territory of the Zhal’Qash. Now most others call it the Waste.”
Ajiha focused his eyes on Anthony’s. “You always wondered why you hadn’t met other life. Why you had no proof of life outside of your own world. It is because the systems surrounding yours are dead. Planets scorched clean of all life, others cracked into pieces, others even so soaked in radiation that nothing will ever live there again. Entire star systems engulfed in rampant energy clouds that destroy anything that comes near them. The entire area is a waste, a graveyard where the Zhal’Qash warred against the Apostates until every last one of them was dead.”
“That is why you isolated us?” Anthony asked in disbelief. “We are nothing like them! The only thing we have ever wanted was to explore in peace!”
“You can deny it all you want, but we have seen the same things the Val'ayash did in your past as well. Do you want to tell me that there are not even now religious sects on your world that call for crusades against those of different faiths?” Ajiha said. He saw Anthony open his mouth to answer but he didn’t let him. “Your history is filled with such horrors, where you’ve practiced genocide against your own people. Killed yourselves in the millions, simply because of difference of belief or desire for power—I don’t know which is worse. You might be at ‘peace’ now, but how long has that really lasted? Not even a century, you’ve had lulls in your conflicts before. And even though you claim that you are at peace, still you fight against those who hold radical beliefs. Not even the Val'ayash ever committed such acts against each other. And you want to be let into the galactic community? The Val'ayash had lived in peace with the Zhal’Qash for a thousand years before they turned on everyone. You are chaos personified. How long will you last before you start a war?” Ajiha asked, his voice rising dangerously close to yelling.
But he needed Anthony to understand, they could not risk another war like the one with the Apostates. They had lost too much. Countless lives, marvels of technology broken and forgotten. It had taken the Zhal and the Qash’vo’tar centuries to recover and they were still nowhere near the level of the Zhal’Qash and the Val'ayash at their peak. “I know your people, Anthony. I know that most of you have good, pure intentions. But can you tell me with certainty that that would never change? That some radical part of your civilization will not eventually grow in power and decide that all life other than human is heretical to their beliefs? Even if you tried to tell me that, I would not believe you. No one in the Qash’vo’tar would believe you. Our history tells of a time when the Apostates were our friends, allies, and neighbors. And then they turned on us.”
“So what?” Anthony spoke after a while. “You would have us stay isolated on our own homeworld forever? Until we eliminate every dissident voice in our civilization?”
“You could abandon your own culture, racial identity. Let us indoctrinate you in the way of Qash’vo’tar. Let us teach you about true order. If you agreed to that, we would uplift you. True, your current generations would not see the stars, but your children would. And they would be Qash’vo’tar.”
Anthony gave him a weak and sad smile. “That will never happen.”
“I know. And the Qash’vo’tar will not allow another Val'ayash to rise.”
“And what about the Zhal Confederation? We have read your files, they do not believe as you do. They allow other races to join their union without abandoning everything that makes them unique.”
“They are fools, their actions are only serving to tempt fate. They haven’t yet encountered a race that is as much of a threat as the Val'ayash or your own, but it is only a matter of time.”
“Yet you are not at war with them,” Anthony pointed out.
“The Zhal Confederation rivals the Qash’vo’tar in strength, and while we are working toward preventing the kind of devastation that another such war would bring, we cannot police all of the galaxy. The terms of the Compact are such that while we disagree on how to prevent another Val'ayash from rising, we are bound to keep the peace and to act together should such a threat ever rise again.”
“So we were only unlucky enough that you found us first.”
“You were lucky that we found you first—the Zhal Confederation might not care enough what kind of races are allowed among the stars but they would not have allowed you your freedom without a price.”
“Is there no way for the Qash’vo’tar and Earth to come to an agreement? I might not understand exactly what happened with these Val'ayash, but I can see that it frightens you greatly. I will agree that Earth is not without its problems. But we had done well over the course of our history to curb and fight against the more radical and violent of our tendencies. We will not turn into what you fear.”
Ajiha looked at Anthony in sympathy. “I know that you believe that, but you cannot predict what the future might bring.”
***
A month had passed since the assault on the Qash’vo’tar, and in all that time Kane had barely had enough time to sleep. He had only managed to see Aiko for a few hours a few weeks back. They were both too busy. He did however let her know that he had been a part of the force that had attacked the ship. The UEF had already planned on revealing their names to the public, but he knew that she had suspected something. The world didn’t yet know about magic or Ethorria, so he hadn’t told her that part.
The rest of his time had been occupied with debriefings and several more missions. What was left of his squadron had retrieved the Qash’vo’tar escape pods, with the help of a few shuttles. The Qash’vo’tar had surrendered once their ship was destroyed, and UEF had taken back control of the tether.
Since then they had been interrogating the prisoners and studying the data they had recovered from their systems. The Qash’vo’tar had deleted their sensitive data, but they hadn’t had the time to delete everything. Kane didn’t know much about what they had found, but he had heard that a few startling revelations had been made.
The mood on Earth had changed as well. The entire planet was celebrating, but it was more than that. There was a sense of hope in the air, and when Kane looked at the stars he no longer saw a cage, now he saw opportunity.
Kane walked into the office of Admiral Villanueva. He had been summoned to report there for a briefing concerning his next mission. Once inside he saw the Admiral sitting behind his desk, and was surprised to see Aiko sitting across from him in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. And by the look on her face Kane knew that she was surprised to see him as well.
“Admiral.” Kane saluted and stood at attention.
“At ease, Commander, please take a seat,” Admiral Leon Villanueva said.
For a moment Kane wondered if the two of them were in trouble. He tried to remember if he had shared something with her that would be a breach. But the look on the Admiral’s face told him that they were not in trouble, so he took a seat and relaxed. He shot a quick smile at Aiko that she returned and then turned his eyes to the Admiral.
“First, I want to commend both of you on your exemplary service,” the Admiral said. “And, as of yesterday afternoon, the United Earth Space Force now officially exists. Again.” The Admiral smiled. “And both of you are being transferred from your respective divisions to the United Earth Space Force and will take the ranks of captain.” He turned to look at Aiko. “I know that you are already a Captain, but there will be a lot of rank shuffling in the next few weeks as we get the UESF all sorted out—this is a promotion. And we are of course aware of your relationship, we are still working on the regs, but seeing as yours is a prior relationship and you have been in different chains of command, there will be no problems. I know that both of you will conduct yourself with excellence.”
Aiko nodded. “Arigatou gozaimasu, sir.”
“Thank you, sir,” Kane said after.
“Good. Your new uniforms and insignia will have to wait a few days, I just wanted to let you know now. Captain Nishimura, with your new rank also comes the clearance for some classified information, I will have the briefing files delivered to you but Captain Reinhart can brief you in the meantime on magic and Ethorria.”
Aiko looked at Kane and he saw that she wanted to ask more but she held her tongue.
“What is this about, sir, if I may ask?” Kane asked. He was certain that the Admiral didn’t invite them both just for that. The two of them had worked together for a long time now, and he knew the man better than most.
Admiral Villanueva smiled, and then started speaking. “We’ve always known that we had no way of building a spaceship right underneath the Qash’vo’tar’s noses. The fact that we managed to build the fighters and the mech-frames was a stroke of luck. We could construct individual parts all over the world and then assemble them elsewhere. But that did not mean that we stopped planning on building spaceships, we’ve always known that we would need them. And we have been training a few select people in the Navy, Air Force, and Army divisions for space combat. Most of it theoretical but we’ve also learned a lot from the tests we did in Ethorria.” He glanced at Aiko as he continued.
“And Captain Nishimura has been part of a team working to develop our own spaceship, as well as to develop regulations and protocols for a space force.”
Kane glanced at her, impressed.
“We are already beginning the process of ramping up our industry, and work on our own warship will be beginning,” the Admiral said, taking a moment to look them both in the eyes. “We want you two to help with the designing of it. We already have a lot of the work done. But we hadn’t told the teams working on the spaceship development about Ethorria or the magitech. Right now we are bringing the two departments together and will be designing a fully magitech ship.”
“Magitech?” Aiko asked slowly, as if she wasn’t sure that she had heard correctly.
“Magic and technology,” Kane told her.
“Yes,” the Admiral said. “We are hoping to start construction in a month and have the ship built in another three. We don’t have much time, the next Qash’vo’tar convoy is due in a little over three years, and we need to be ready.”
“A single ship won’t be enough, even if it’s supported by fighters and mech-frames,” Kane said.
“We will build more, the first one will not be a part of the defense force. It will be a prototype. And if we are comfortable enough with its capabilities perhaps something more,” the Admiral told them.
“What do you mean?” Kane asked.
“We have uncovered a lot of information from the Qash’vo’tar databases. And one piece of information relevant to this conversation concerns a star system some one hundred and twenty lightyears from here. If what we have translated is correct, the system is a neutral trading hub, where many races do trade. We are planning on sending a mission there to gather more information as well as to buy samples of technology and anything else that might help us against the Qash’vo’tar.”
“That seems… ambitious. Do we really need to? I mean our magitech had proven itself against the Qash’vo’tar, with a few updates we could hold our own easily,” Kane said.
