Relative Timeline: Ta6Lo62000
Area: Sector Z
Location: Somewhere on the edge of the Civilized Universe, forward defense base.
Control: Imperial Universal Federation (IUF)
Affiliation: Universal Administration [UA]
Joary De Swyx slightly moved the third and last finger of his right hand, which allowed him to crouch in a bush and activate the camouflage mode. Noises rang out as the enemies searched the surroundings. He didn't move, his gun ready to fire in bursts in case he was surprised...
A hand landed on his shoulder. An invisible hand!
The Lenarit jumped and raised his virtual reality glasses, throwing a furious look at his colleague Garper. The Human, much smaller than him, sketched an apologetic smile.
“Excuse me Jo, but the captain is on his way...”
Joary paled, which for his species translated into lighter-than-usual green-blue skin while his visible purple veins temporarily retracted. He quickly removed his glasses and control gloves to place them at his feet, under the control computers, out of sight.
He glanced around, then pretended to observe the control screens.
The captain entered the room, with the heavy step of the bionic limbs that replaced his legs. It was a Yapa, one of those bizarre species of the universe that resemble humanoid animals, in this case a fox. An old fox who, despite his small size, imposed himself with his implacable gaze. Despite the short life expectancy of his species, he remembered the Imperial era before Emperor Vector. Many stays in stasis pods had preserved this old wreck of the past so that he could tyrannize his hierarchical inferiors in the present and break their ears with his praise of a good old time when survival was very precarious.
He praised the ancient times when one advanced through the hierarchy by one's own merits and plots, and when a simple slave could even hope to become emperor through perseverance. A time when the empire vibrated to the rhythm of its battles between warlords in order to seize power. Constant clashes that allowed the army to be skimmed to make it an elite force. Of course, now that slavery and hierarchical advancement by assassination were illegal, the people of the present had become real wimps, like all those he saw currently under his command, not like the guys of his time who were real survivors...
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In fact, this living antiquity that was the captain must have even seen the first Zcarbb invasion, which could explain his particular severity regarding the seriousness he demanded of his men, even though they were monitoring a point in space where nothing would ever happen. Even the bandits of the Nomad group were absent from this sector of the universe and a whole network of systems filled with sterile planets separated them from Zcarbb space, discouraging them from expanding in this direction.
“Anything new?” the little tyrant bellowed.
“No, my captain,” Joary assured, “everything is calm. What would you like to happen here? There is not even a single viable colony within ten systems!”
“That is no reason to relax, soldier! In my day, we threw slackers and other incompetents through the airlocks... Tsss, just by looking at your faces, I can detect a lack of seriousness. Emperor Vector, in his time, claimed to improve the efficiency of the Empire and make meritocracy less violent... It seems that nowadays we have only kept the moderate side while forgetting the efficient one... Lamentable... Keep your eyes on the screens and raise the alarm at the slightest suspicious thing!”
Still grumbling against a decadent era, the captain left the room. The two occupants of the room held their breath for a moment, following the progress of their superior on the security screens managed by Garper. The captain did not seem to turn around to carry out a new surprise inspection... or at least what he thought was a surprise. The surveillance post was the best possible hiding place against his severity.
Sighing with relief, the two soldiers took their personal items out of their hiding places. The Human stuck two earphones in his ears and slumped down on his seat, his half-closed eyes monitoring the data from the internal cameras. Joary, meanwhile, put his control gloves and his virtual reality goggles back on. Their antigravity device allowed them to easily adjust to his oblong head.
“Ah, of course my avatar is dead! That's the problem with online games! Damn captain!”
Angrily, he scrolled through his stats on the virtual screen and counted the number of points he had lost. Well, he still had enough to get a new avatar without spending more money. Kill-Zcarbb was truly the best game in the universe, if you exclude Kill-Zcarbb II, its total advanced virtual reality version reserved for the rich.
Joary's eyes narrowed in astonishment. As he had opened the interface to get a new avatar, he observed behind the data a new wallpaper... Usually there was no wallpaper... This one represented a huge Zcarbb battleship surrounded by a swarm of smaller ships...
Joary removed his glasses and looked in horror at the control screens: these were not the images of the game. He swore and all the lights abruptly went out as the enemy's assault software and electricity jammers disrupted the base's systems.
Then the structure shook as the bombardment began. The base's internal communications system transmitted the enemy message to everyone:
“You will pay for your crimes!”
Feverishly, the Lenarit activated the emergency systems and deployed the combat ZIAs, that had survived the first wave, into the computer system. He didn't speak, and when his colleague came to join him, attracted by the light of the screen that alone illuminated the room, he didn't speak either.
A surviving exterior camera had been reactivated. While the foreground showed a horde of assault shuttles approaching the ruins of their base, the black background of space was completely replaced by the amber reflection of an infinity of enemy ships.
The war had resumed and they were in the front row...