Rise of the Star Ch. 06

"Oh, yes. That we have some arcane secrets that let us break the laws of proper society, that we have resources from nowhere, that we're just mind-controlling people... or that it's all lies and the empire is far worse. But it has been defeated by the few real glimpses into our lives. Lifeshare is quite the tool for it."

"And that is the first reason. The second would be to seize our resources and technologies to try and achieve a similar way of life. But we know better than them that it will be short-lived and even if they succeed, it will be wasted in a generation. So, there is the reason for their war."

They could agree on that. The Empire was doing so well that this passive humiliation was destroying the other alien nations through their mere existence, much like an entire socialist dictatorship can be demolished by the existence of a well-stocked supermarket in their ideological enemy's domain. No better way to prove someone wrong than by being happy while not doing things their way.

"Now, let's talk war resources. We'll send a war vote anyway, but what are our standing professional forces?"

"Hesperios is still halfway into the extent of the armament we can prepare, but the other half is ready to fire even now. We have five million in combatant manpower and twenty in support."

"Make that fifty-five percent done for Osiris, six million and twenty-two respectively."

"And I think each of the other planets has at least five hundred thousand in combatant manpower, though we should not throw everything. Fleet-wise?"

"Still got four fleets undergoing retrofits, but the other ten are primed and ready. The Apocalypse is fully oiled and we've got approximately five hundred million fleet power right now. Logistics suggests we can fill out twenty more fleets, though I can't forecast how much it would add."

"The yard is getting through those upgrades. To take the words out of my colleague's mouth, with our current resource stock, we can fill out our naval capacity in a few months and send the order right now."

"Do it. Let's focus on battleships. Those seem to make the biggest difference."

"Alright, five hundred battleships incoming. We might need a second gateway to let the materials get to us. Gonna need a few million tons of alloys." That was a joke. One could handle it well enough and sped things up considerably.

"And we have more than a few million. For army, let's raise us five groups of enough to take on even one of their stronger planets. Give them everything." A smirk from the overseer. "You know, I do find the position we are in to be incredible. This is taking such resources that my calculator implant is doing overtime, and yet I still know we have that and can restore it in just a few years."

That smile went around the table. That feeling was felt in them and the group took a moment to realize how ready they were for this. How despite their quality of life, they also had such powerful tools to defend it.

"Just doing our jobs. But... I think it's not just us."

"Oh, yes. James, why not take your seat? You might not have something to say, but we do."

The Outsider appeared in his chair in that usual fashion, leaning back with cigarette in hand, eyebrows raised, but there was a slight smile on his face.

"I should really not indulge your desire to praise me. So, keep it down."

"Maybe. Did you plan this?"

"Do I look like a guy with a plan?"

"Yes." The fox-girl told that to his face. "Don't try to slide this off."

"Fine, maybe I did plan it. Maybe I did suggest those stupid defenses because when you make a fucking great place to live everyone wants to take it. You can't build this place on pacifism... look what happened to the Bliss. Taken the fuck over. Now they're trying it on you and the only reason they didn't try it sooner is because it was much more obvious how good you had it. It still is, but they got desperate. They have to do this or their empires will start to collapse."

"Perhaps they should. But, I can feel that this place was more your design than our intent."

"If anyone decides to call me 'emperor' unironically I'm going to do something embarrassing to them. And trust me that I have quite the creativity."

"And maybe we might be tempted to do that anyway. How many of these other empires had a great mind building it, only for another to ruin it right after? If we lost you, we might have gone the same way. But we are not. Because of our immortal emperor."

The chair under that man broke and he fell back, but he was on his feet with a grin showing they were not dissuaded from doing that again. James could give him a proud smirk back.

"Maybe. But, take it from here. You guys have more than enough to handle this, despite the surprise that Kelly kept from you."

"Surprise?" The minister of defense leered at the other girl.

"Huh, what su... OH, right! Apologies, I got distracted. Shit, and this was important. Right, at this point, it's a bit unconfirmed, but it looks like they sent messages to the Pasha and Rotog and..."

"I remember that those were utterly against even talking with the rest of the galaxy. They wanted to kill everything else."

"Well, they sure didn't like the message, but it looks like they are considering mobilization on the side of the others. Not in a direct alliance, that would be far unlike them, but at least they would keep the rest for later and do us in now. A focused effort."

The Pasha Devourers could be described as dragons that ate everything else. Their technology was more biological, but it was good enough to keep up with the rest of the galaxy. Not as much worth in one of their soldiers as your usual astorian soldier, but they had numbers and would expend them as casually as people use ammunition. The moths of the Rotog considered everything else a disease on the galaxy and had waged extermination wars on all their neighbors, stopping only once they needed time to recover, but their territory had grown significantly over time. Those two were strong additions to this force, even if they might not work with the aliens directly.

"That... is indeed troubling. And yet James tells us we can handle it. And he hasn't lied about anything serious ever... so we can. Perhaps they can be our point. Those two are impossible to shift from their ways... every last moth on the imperium would kill us with no care. Perhaps we can even use the Apocalypse."

"We paid for a planet destroyer and we're gonna use a planet destroyer."

"And there you have it. But, I leave it to you guys how you want to handle it. You have two choices. You can just stay in these borders and tell the rest of the galaxy to go fuck itself... or you can fight back. You know, we can just be at war for good." Beat. "Fuck. Guess we got to the part where there is only war."

"But we didn't start it. We're gonna end it."

If one expects the ships of the other empires to show up overnight and for it to turn into a 24/7 expenditure of ammo as ludicrous amounts of weapons that defied science were unleashed... war is not like that. This was still a conventional war, and the galactic community was still trying to win this without spending resources... that's the smartest thing you could do. Every resource the empire uses on them is one they can't use themselves. Puff your chest, show your piece, make threats, and then wave it around before you actually start firing it.

Fleets were mobilized and given a good workout to show they had the guns, propaganda started rolling about how the astorians were the worst kind of people after some deep-seated secret was discovered, and there were even some false flag operations to get that war spirit going. The empire didn't do that shit. You don't blow up a city that was against the efforts and pin it on the enemy to get people to fight. They did the truthful informing in all its glory, giving everything and leaving nothing to crack under a question.

There was tremendous information censorship on the other side because the truth was that the empire not only had more ships than any other empire, their logistic chain being downright impressive, but they also had much better tech, which translated into stronger weapons. While a better gun does not equal victory, there were many factors to add up to something that might make the community tremble a bit. True, they did have more ships overall and might be able to throw a lot of people in the grinder, but the brutal calculus of war could be solved on day one.

Another reason to not let the other people know what the astorians have is the "planet destroyer" which could blow up planets if they wanted it to, but they decided on something else, something that would kill everyone on that planet while leaving it intact. If the people of those other empires knew they had such a thing, they just had to park it in orbit, make a show about it firing and chaos would consume that planet as everyone would go "We're about to die, might as well fuck shit up and enjoy ourselves." rather than wondering what the hell it is.

But, the empire decided to take a much more passive approach to war. They just sat in their space, fleets parked in the border systems, defenses primed and ready to go. Even old tactics would not work as well, the probing attacks were dealt with by automated measures, meaning that the crew could chill until a REAL fleet showed up. The firing of the Maginot worlds' guns was almost like a test, finally able to take those babies for a spin because you just could not test them without some immense resource expenditure. Surface-to-space batteries showed that they needed to put a serious effort if they wanted to succeed.

The empire would just "ignore" them for a while.

*

Even in war, there is beauty to be found. Understanding, peace, pleasure. And not just by being far away from it. Everything not dealing with the border systems in the empire could almost pretend that there was no war. Ninety-five percent approval to go to war. Might as well have the entire population helping. But the war would last for a long time and it got to the point where people grew up and were offered the vote, given the option to help out in some way, even if by a technicality. But just doing your daily job was holding things well enough.

It had been an unusual call, a request from the Nex to have someone important visit. Jess thought this might be the only job she had left, so she and some of her crew would go over on a ship, a very light escort behind her to make sure the other aliens were not doing bullshit, but the Nex have told them to go around if they want to wage war on the empire. Well, that's what jump drives are for.

She didn't know what to expect when reaching Central, the capital planet of this machine empire, one where life was impossible and the atmosphere unbreathable, where everything had been designed to assist machines at the sacrifice of everything else. Seeing that spot of green as they were told to land was a curiosity, especially since it looked to be their approved vector.

Not just green, but plants. The shuttle landed on the top of this glass dome where life was clearly happening inside, the pad part of a central pillar that seemed to also have a big elevator that sealed them in as it brought their ship down. It was a rather big structure. With obvious paranoia, the woman and her companions put on exo-suits as they came out of the airlock, the one Nex unit there to greet them.

It was certainly beautiful... a cultivated park matching the size of their bigger ones, with trees and grass and flowers and bushes and so much more... beauty in the middle of this gray steel.

"Greetings, astorians. We hope you appreciate the bio-dome."

"This is unusual for you. Why... this?"

"A difficult concept. It requires elaboration. As you know, we do not require anything that a biosphere provides, thus this project was very difficult to enable."

"Well, I can see why you requested that basic data on engineering such a place in a hostile environment. And paid so well for it."

"Correct, that information was so we may build this structure and cultivate the life inside. But, let us add that for what we offer now we expect no payment. It is... as you say... a gift."

Jess looked around, taking a few steps further. She saw units of the Nex maintaining the grounds, watering and fertilizing plants, shaping topiaries, maintaining a garden... She received a confirmation that the air was breathable for her kind and could remove her helmet... astorian parks could be better, but seeing this here was such a strange thing.

"I... don't exactly know how it can be a gift. Other than it being a nice view... a place we can visit here and... not have to stay in our ships. Though I think you might need a bit more to handle the service a human might expect."

"Astorian philosophy states that the gift is not defined by its material value, but by the intent behind it. Let us explain the intent."

"Please do."

The woman was guided to a bench, and even though they did not need to, the unit sat beside her, talking as she marveled at the sight.

"We understand that you are currently in a very unpleasant position. It has caused a measure of concern, unrelated to our situation. You call that empathy and we have understood it. There is a consideration that we should assist in your defense. But it has not reached a decision."

"It is indeed a challenge. But... you don't need to do that. It is our challenge. And we can face it. Their threat might not materialize, but if you join it would mean a cost."

"Correct. Thus we have weighed the cost versus the result. We have come to appreciate our partnership, even if it has not reached the level of cooperation others would call allies."

"Not true." She smirked. "The Outsider once told us that the best ally is someone else who is just minding their own business. You want nothing of ours without offering a fair return and neither do we want anything of yours without doing the same."

"Then, by that definition, we are allies. Even though we would stay apart from you in this challenge. It creates a sense that we are not paying a debt."

"Sometimes, the best thing you can do for someone is to let them fight their own battles, else they might grow to expect your assistance, demand it... it would be like taking away their growth, their experience, their lessons."

"Lesson logged. Under this philosophy, the course of not assisting is seen as beneficial as long as you succeed. Our analysis shows it has a high probability of this result."

"I have yet to hear the intent of the gift. We've strayed."

"Correct. Under the current conditions, this expenditure of resources for this inefficient design is intended to demonstrate that while other empires would not accept your presence, we do. And we can make adjustments to account for our differences. This structure can be a place where your people can exist on our world without assistance. Yet, as you have stated, it is not yet suited for long-term habitation."

As those words came, the woman did feel touched. The intent was indeed great. To show they have a friend in this cold infinity, even one so different. And it did mean so much. Many of them felt like they had everyone else turning against them, even some they might consider allies. Jess thought of something and trusted to bring it to them.

"You... you could have joined with them. You could have gotten so many resources and our knowledge for an easier path. Why didn't you? It seems... much more optimal."

A pause on the unit. That needed a good answer.

"Correct. We are aware of this information and a decision was made on it. At the time, it seemed illogical, the supporting evidence having less weight. However, we have identified the underlying information over the course of constructing this structure. Biological life cannot be forced into development while achieving optimal results from the perspective of undisturbed life. There would be a substantial loss of unquantifiable amounts of knowledge and resources if such entities are constrained. This was also learned from the Magoor. Their biological trophies were not achieving results even approaching those in a standard civilization." A pause, as if to conclude. "Freedom is required for proper development, the chaos and unstructured growth arising from minuscule conflicts, but also one should strive to remove the conflicts that threaten the entire system else it will achieve less."

She gave a wide smile. It was like they learned to be human. Almost. They learned gardening.

"Free range is better than constraining." A joke. Even an AI might laugh at that one. "That might almost sound like what the Outsider told us. That we need defiance, if only to show where order does things wrong. Structure is how we can work together, but indeed it can lead to people being less than what they could do without it."

"Your people speak at length of the entity called Outsider. Their directives seem efficient and aware of the functionality of humans to a great degree. And yet we have never observed such an entity, your highest leader being the overseer."

"Because that's something different. Religion, belief in a higher order."

"Illogical. Your words suggest an existing presence offering these directives. Is the Outsider the leader and not public information? The philosophy receives updates with no source."

She could lie. But lies are for enemies. Maybe she could do this. No, she should do this. After this gesture, it might be disrespectful to do otherwise.

"You could say that, but he'd thoroughly reject that notion. And maybe he can explain himself even better. Would you like to do that, James?"

Not an immediate result, enough for the machine to consider her words and draw new suppositions. But in just a few seconds, the cloud of red mist formed before them and solidified into the person. James stood there, looking at the two, so much confusion in the grand AI.

"Perhaps I should. And yes, I reject the notion that I'm your leader even though I kinda technically am. Hello, builder robots. You guys have been rather nice."

"It would seem that Astoria's technology is even greater than analysis suggests."

"Not technology. I'm an actual fucking god existing outside this world... thus the title of the Outsider... and what I do is outright breaking all laws of reality. Yes, yes... take a moment."

It did pause for a bit. This was a lot of information to be hit with at once, things to change just about everything. But it was worthy of testing.

"May we test the assessment with a non-destructive method?"

"You may challenge me indeed. But I can probably take on one of your war machines and make it look easy. But, non-destructive... what do you have in mind? Usually, I offer to make something. I doubt you guys enjoy sandwiches."

Jess fell into the background. She let the man talk to the robots and had a front-row seat while it was done. No other empire even knew that the Outsider was real. Even the Raff, who had such a close encounter had no idea. Only those on their planets.

"The hypothesis of an outside entity would suggest knowledge of the current universe as well as the ability to manipulate it, as one cannot change what they cannot know."

"Okay... yes, I do have the ability to just pull out knowledge from the universe. Answer a question, then? A really difficult one, I guess."

"Correct. Reproduce query on data point D, unit 297405, sector alpha, metric 568234. Analysis suggests it impossible."

Might as well run a query. Okay, what did the robot mean... oh, he was asking for something from the past that was no longer so, something it knew was like that and marked it down, but it would be thoroughly impossible to know where it put it. And...