Planet Calmani, Capital world of the Democratic Republic Alliance and center of the galactic trade and politics of the alliance. A world that represented the entirety of said group by its vast multicultural sites where everyone was equal... that was the idea of course. The reality was different, like most worlds, the separation of riches was not equally distributed. With that idea in mind the surface of the world was one of buzzling activities everywhere and much of the population were living truly good lives, but this wasn't a utopia and with the war raging on the population was suffering. While the politicians were deliberating, crime were increasing, an influx of refugee with nowhere to go were everywhere and the rich would pocket on the catastrophes. Worlds with better or greater resources were prioritized while smaller ones would need to wait for help. Frustrations and fear were felt everywhere. However, in generals Grants mind, this was better treatment then worlds that aren't in the alliance or conqueror by the Avalon Empire.
Neutral worlds could prosper but were very limited and suffered by having a lack of resources. Most neutral planets where ones which either had close to no resources worth exploiting and sometimes had no intelligent life forms on them. This would sometimes attract outlaws and other unsavory sorts to create safe heavens of criminality. There were some few exceptions, but these were planets extremely far from the core worlds of the DRA or had very difficult atmospheric environments that impeded normal built ships from accessing the planet.
As for the empire, general Grant saw their handy work. Worlds that didn't bow to them would become wastelands. Water poisoning, orbital bombardments, genocides. You either with them or against them. Those that submitted would lose control of political power and be place under the direct control of the military occupation of the world. Slavery was also accepted, and military conscription was implemented.
General Grant was standing up gazing out of his window in his office of the central political and military building of the DRA, the Democratic Alliance building. The view was good, but listening to two frustrated individuals sitting across his desk was ruining it: "This is outrageous! Our church is not willing to cooperate with empire and their heretics!" said an old woman looking to be in her mid-sixties.
"The Avalon Empire has never agreed to any negotiations before and each time we tried to get them to sit at a table, they have attacked the envoys they have sent each time. They only want control of the entirety of the galaxy for their emperor!" continued the small chubby man who was sweating profusely since the reveal of the joint plan. He seemed to be in his early sixties.
"Know your place Archcleric Salmana! You have been invited here to be a simple messenger to the Temple of Aeons. Do not overstep your bounds here." said Grant "You may now leave with the list and information I have given you."
Archcleric Salmana started to turn red with anger "The church will be informed of not only your information and needs, but also your blatant disrespect!"
On that note, the Archcleric turned around and stormed out of the office. The chubby man started scratching his head with a worried expression. "Jeffrey, I know the Temple can be problematic at times, but they are the people in charge of educating and developing biomentalist. We must not anger then to much..."
"That might be the case, but that does not allow them free reign in military affairs." the general sat down and took out from his desk a folder. "Minister Maxwell, this here folder holds the complete information of my meeting with High counselor Ziban on Xuanti."
"Xuanti?! You went to one hell of place to meet. That planet is situated at the galactic border to dark space... and you can stop with the formalities with only the two of us here."
"Not when I am at work. Bad habits can appear quickly and stopping them can be quite difficult."
Minister of War, Tarvian Maxwell, he works directly for the President of Congress of the intergalactic senate. He oversees every aspect of the war and the people under him oversee the political and social part of the war. These two have know each other since their younger days when both were just a simple soldier and the other was a simple interne.
"Ah well I can't..." the minister stopped mid-sentence and his eyes opened in great surprise. "These members... are they seriously accepting this?"
"Very." stated the general. "So, can I trust you to pass this plan through congress. The members must stay a secret, but like you can see the Avalon Empire is serious and this joint plan is feasible."
"True, but I'm surprised they took the initiative to announce their own bane as team leader. As for congress, don't worry about it. The senators have been aware of this new threat, but most either dismiss it as none sense or state it being trivial compared to the situation with the empire. However they would gladly accept to create this team. They will be able to use this as some sort of publicity to show to general population that there is progress with the matter with the Avalon Empire…”
“What are you talking about? If you think you can use this to appease the population, you are dead wrong. This ‘truce’ is only meant to stop shooting at each other until a mutual enemy has been dealt with. War with the Alliance is the only thing on their mind.”
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“Yes, but we can use this Jeffrey! We do not know much about this new threat, but the fact that we can stop the war for a bit, we can reallocate money on rebuilding and helping refugees.”
“Once it’s over, you know war will start again. We need that money to prepare for that eventuality.”
“Yes, I know, but we can still breath a little more and when the situation is over, we will be able to blame the Empire, saying that we have been betrayed or something like that, this will spur the public and help with future war efforts!”
Grant looked at Maxwell and stare intently. This plan was completely unreliable. Too many unknowns. It was fine to look up at the future with the idea of being prepared for the worst, but the minister’s expectations for the future were dangerous.
“That idea has many flaws and WILL backfire on us if the general population discovers it to be false.”
“What are you talking about Jeffrey?! The empires thugs that they will be sending will most likely backstab us at a crucial moment! How can they miss the chance to kill the hero of Balkarian! If we announce it, we can dissuade them from such action. If they do act in such a way, we can then get more supporters for the war. The war has been going on for decades now and public morale is low right now."
Maxwell thoughts were right to some extent. Such an individual was a prime target for the empire, but the same could be said for the Alliance. Both sides had given intergalactic War heroes and both sides would like to have the other sides heroes gone. The general thought the Democratic Republic Alliance to be the ideal institution for peace, but knew well that brighter the light was, darker was the shadow. The Alliance wasn’t perfect since corruption was present on every level of the government and some parties would love to see the war continue, but as long as the Alliance has the edge in it.
This plan of uniting the two forces was a dangerous gamble, but a necessary one.
“However the situation may be, this a temporary truce and we must cooperate with them. We will be vigilant, but I suggest to not publicly announce this truce. This can cause confusion and more worries for the population. If wind comes of an enemy that is more dangerous then the last to the point of both the DRA and the empire allying will cause unnecessary panic.” Grant got up from his chair and walk towards the window. “We lost a whole fleet to this threat and we haven’t found a single clue of who or what did it apart from their insignia on the wreckage they left behind.”
“Actually, we found more. During your little meeting, officers of the lower districts have found chemical labs with the same insignia. The lab burned down not long after, but the chemical residue seems to contain some agents implicated in the construction of explosives, but nothing in the lab seemed remotely related to that.” Maxwell held his chin between his fingers thinking “Most members fled, but one or two got caught, but once restraint, they caught literally on fire. Only ash reminds of them.”
“The same happened on Xuanti. I did not mention this on the report, but the meeting got attacked and both the High Councilor and I fought them.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t the empire trying to assassinate you?” pondered the minister.
“No. They charged the councilor first. I think they underestimated me since I’m not a biomentalist. I was able to kill and subdue most of them because of this, but they all burnt up, not leaving anything behind as clues.” Said the general, frustrated of the events.
“This is bad Jeffrey, if they knew the meeting was taking place this means they have people in the inside or at least there are monitoring you and that old devil.”
“Both ideas are plausible, and they might have done this move to try to convey a message: That they can attack us when we are most vulnerable. However, we first need to make an investigation inside the ministry to clear out any doubts we might have.”
“Don’t worry about it, I will clear out my end. For the matter of publicly announcing the truce, I will make your opinion on the mattered heard, but many will have the same idea I had. I cannot make any promises.”
The small chubby minister got up from his chair and at that moment the general turned around.
“Please do. I have an ominous feeling about this situation. I am not one for conspiracies, but the fact of the matter is that I have some doubt about this being larger then simply another faction or threat randomly appearing before us.”
“Well, the only thing we can do is find it and try to smother it… If nothing else works.” Concluded the Minister. He approached the general and shook his hand. “I am trusting this plan of yours and hopes we can resolve this fast. The empire needs to be destroyed if we really want to live in peace. Their existence is a growing threat every minute we let them be.”
“I concur, however displeasing it is to work with them, we need their strength and cooperate on information if we want to close this chapter on this threat. They too seem to have suffered some casualties form this threat.”
“I leave it to you then… Oh! Before I forget, you still did not give me your confirmation of your presence at the banquet Thursday.”
Grant looked surprised and his mood darken for a moment.
“I don’t think such an event is important right now with everything going on…”
“Nonsense! You need to relax yourself a bit with everything going on!” eagerly said the minister.
“I don’t see how relaxing this banquet is. It’s basically senators and ministers chatting while comparing who has the biggest- “
“Hey! Hey now! No need to go that far! I’m just saying that if you want more support on this, socializing can be beneficial. This can be also where you can pass you point and heighten your influence in the political sphere.”
“Not interested. So, if you have nothing further to add, I’ll be taking my leave. I have numerous things to organize.”
Grant showed the minister out and with some last farewells they parted. The general went back to his desk and sat down while activating his holoprojector.
“Contact: Major Thamor.”
Moments later, a low and deep voice was heard while a blurry, but ominous looking helmet appeared: “Ready for your orders, sir.”
“You are to meet me on station Viridian for a new mission briefing two days from now at eight hundred hours. Your squad will be reassigned for the duration of this new operation.”
“Understood.”
The line cut, and the general leaned back on his chair looking pensive.
“Still so talkative I see. Let’s hope this will not be too problematic…”