Rise of the Star Ch. 06

And even though the other empires might seem a lost cause, he tried with them. He tried with the Raff... some guys started getting ideas and were executed, others succeeded and started executing others as they just became the same bastards. Same story with so many others. Why does power invariably corrupt? Why can't he reproduce the recipe of the empire? Did he have to take them over? Did he have to go down there and show them there is a fucking god and to stop being bastards because otherwise he will be upset? Or did humanity have something special? Nope, there were other species that managed to be not-bastards in leadership positions. Heck, they managed before the fortune system.

Why was he doing this? Because he was still thinking of his old world. It was impossible to forget. Anger changes you. Anger makes it impossible to forget. Especially when something is beyond your control. That world was beyond his reach, the guests that came from it were temporary, so even bringing the entirety of it might not work. Somewhere in him was the long desire to fix that world because it was his home, because it had people who deserved a good society, people who deserved a planet like the ones in the empire.

But he was wrong. Not everyone who he influenced had ignored his lessons or suffered from them, not all who rose to positions of power were corrupted. And James did not notice that some took to those lessons. Some who were in a good position to make a particular city on a particular planet in a particular empire full of blue women do a bit better. It was subtle.

Still, James tried. He tried so hard and it didn't even matter to most of these empires. Can make a man angry when trying to help them just creates worse bastards. After this war, he'd stop trying. Or try one more time. The rollercoaster was not closed.

He just had to wait a few years.

*

Matriarch. None remembered the name Ali'sha by now, but they knew Matriarch La'rana. She had disappeared on a ship with nothing but the clothes on her back to keep her on the border planet, where someone without a name was not as unusual. She got another, the old person just disappeared and the new one came into being. How freeing to be without a past, and yet how much she lost.

The role of a matriarch commands a city. The role is as much of a religious figure as it is administrative. It had been a subtle approach, with the outside not looking too closely. The higher leaders did not know where she went and after a while forgot about her as well. Her honor was well within the accepted deviance margin, and yet there was a subtle difference to start making things better.

La'rana started small and slowly reached others through an inspiring faith. It was not exactly the faith of the outsider, but she was still trying to see what the fuck was up with those aliens. And in a place where faith is equated to capability, she grew in rank quickly... she received offers for positions to once again show her social skills, even if she no longer had a proof of degree, she had skills and they were tangible. Then she received an administration position and she could move on with her ideas. That faith indeed is important, but one should be ready to take the world as it is. The gods will see them only after they have passed it.

Honors were the name of what the Tan considered religion, but an honor is more than that, as it also equals a system of government, a grouping... those following you follow your belief, either by choice or by force. A bit of similarity with what the empire did. But she intentionally took some of their ideas, like the whole community bit, which was seen as an amazing administrative move as it really streamlined things and kept deviance down. Soon enough, she would be in charge of a city. A city. It was worth a smile.

It was not that big, but there were still a million Tan in this "backwater" place. It was still a decent enough place and she made it work. Her reforms had increased the efficiency of industries and reduced the strain on hierarchy resources. Her face could no longer draw recognition, age starting to take her, her old name was forgotten and the new one gained prestige.

She sat on that chair by the window, looking down at this city, pleased with herself and her new place. Did the woman ever think of how much richer she was before, how much she could have done if she kept in the position of delegate? Yes, she did. There were very good lies for the feelings others felt in her. No different than the rest.

The Tan had evolved this increased empathy in response to them developing such a strong emotional intelligence, such a controlled speech that one could no longer assess them from the content of their speech or even tiny inflections. They could, at one time, present themselves exactly as they wanted to be. So, the arms race moved on and they learned how to feel beyond words, then those who did were more successful and so did evolution make this bug that miraculously improved functionality pass on to their entire species. Ancient history. They were older than the empire and humans. MUCH older.

But Ali'sha was here now. She had obtained success again despite what her former superior might think of her. There was a smile on her face. She didn't know how the pleasure of defiance was coming to her, as did all those other subtle ideas. She thought this might be real divinity.

She was right.

*

One by one, they will fall, oh no. Empires subjugated through prodigious violence, the peace treaties humiliating, the lesson taught once more, this time with much greater ease. It was not an instant thing as the galaxy is BIG and so are planets. Each planetary conquest took months to get it under control, each empire a good year once they got to it. It took ten years, a time when many troops saw just one drop before they got replaced by fresher and stronger ones, the veterans going home to enjoy all those luxuries promised to them, and they were delivered.

There was no long-term peace with the Rotog and the Pasha. Those empires were wiped out of existence, their planets burned and their unredeeming people genocided into practical nonexistence... while there might be a few left out there, they would never amount to anything of note. Others were given the benefit of peace, but the wiped planets were a POINT. It was a sign that they could do worse and they were fully willing to do it even to civilized species, as they treated no less than five planets belonging to the other empires into lightly-radioactive and depopulated worlds. A big threat to say "If you pull that shit again we are ending you." so they didn't have to repeat this in fifty years.

Jess stood on that balcony, but her image was projected before the new Zynn leader, pretty much the highest-placed noble of theirs after their capital got a deep-cleaning. She saw the beauty of that decorated hall, if only mildly scorched by weapons of astorian make. She saw the cowering reptoid as their troops were all around him, this treaty forced at gunpoint but that was how it had to be. Last one, and this is done.

"You must understand that this is a mercy. As your empire had orchestrated this event, we could have made a point by eliminating you. So, here is your treaty. Fifty years of peace, you will broadcast those messages showing your failure for one year through this empire and forfeit your vote in the forum. And we don't care about being allowed back in. We are done with you."

He signed because this was the only thing standing between them and extermination. A million curses on his predecessor who enacted this. Now it seemed so obvious, but if he had been there audacity would have consumed him. They thought this empire of perverts was harmless. So wrong in such a bad way. Why did they do this?

Because He Who Is Everything was trying through that shard to once again turn James to the dark side. To destroy his love and let that anger consume him. So many times when it was close and the Outsider just slipped away and held his path. It was SO close. Victory did not matter as much as turning him into a monster, and that was within reach... all he had to do was start killing these other people indiscriminately and he was gone. WHY DIDN'T HE?!

A peace treaty. The final one. They did plenty to humiliate the empires that tried this and didn't touch the ones that stayed out of it. The Tan had seen enough by the time their turn might come to just give up on the spot and let them pass. The Supremarch thought about how it could have been the same for them... their planets sieged, their people killed, their infrastructure destroyed and so much lost. The Empire was making a point by not just defeating them, but breaking their arm in the process. They blew up the Galactic Forum after a notice for its residents to evacuate.

It was a quiet trip back home, with nobody even willing to tempt the anger of the Empire. But those ships were party boats where orgies were ongoing, where every stock of alcohol and drugs was expended in celebration, their supplies burned through with glee. And once they were home, a grand celebration was called. Not quite the time for celebrating 2000 years since Second Arrival, but close enough. And this one would be even bigger than before.

And then, the empire could just go quiet. Exploring as they did before, scanning the planets of the newly-freed stars that once belonged to the genocidal empires, trading with those that have kept principles even at such a time, minding their own damn business while the rest of the galaxy tried to put the Community back together. Some left it after that, seeing that partnership with these people was a terrible thing. If one had given it a few more centuries, the community could collapse on its own. There was a stern instruction noted for all who would serve in that forum, if there was one rule above all, it was the one engraved on that emptied spot.

DO NOT FUCK WITH ASTORIA.