The Emperor was reading the last report about Earth.
Although reading would be a misinterpretation, he was a pandimensional energy being so he didn’t read but analyzed the energy flux around him; we could say in a way that he could both read the documents and see the videos at the same time.
And what he was seeing excited him, like nothing had for a thousand years.
This race, humans they called themselves, were absolute beasts. He was reading and watching about the history of wars and conquest, about how far and how low they would go to suppress an enemy, about how brave and seemingly unstoppable they could become when something bigger than their life was on the line.
They would need to be conquered fast, really fast. Give them a moment of respite and they will come back like hell’s fury.
And they were technologically advanced (not much compared to the Empire but still), the only reason they had not conquered their system yet was because of bureaucrats, politicians, and how selfish and greedy they could be, so much that they were making their own planet inhabitable for their species.
He found himself smiling when he watched their art and listened to their songs and stories. They had plenty of stories, so much that one of their writers defined them as monkeys telling stories to each other but ready to throw branches and rocks to the monkeys in the other tree; that might have been also because they have evolved from a primate bipedal creature.
And their art was beautiful; he could not help but gasp when watching some of the things they had carved in marble, stone and other materials. Oh! And their music, the quality and variety of it. A species capable of so much! They had to become his, he had to own them no matter what, he had a feeling they could benefit the Empire in ways he could not imagine, that was elating.
So he made a decision, one that he would never take lightly, he could either plan it himself or wake the General, but it had been millennia since the General fell into deep slumber and he missed the guy so that wasn’t really a decision was it.
So he sent the order. Wake up the General, I have need of him.
The tech worker went the whole way under the palace, so deep they were close to the planet’s core. Only there, powered by the core energy, could they keep their most beloved personages frozen in deep slumber. Again he checked his datapad, the instruction was clear and signed by the Emperor himself, wake up the General, so that he did.
He put the command codes and looked at the block of ice being transported to the main room.
A few minutes after the process started the ice had melted and the General was already waking up, he looked at the tech worker.
“It must be important then” - The general said, his voice hoarse from not having used it for a millennia.
“The Emperor needs you, I’ve been sent to wake you up” - the worker answered, by his side the red coat and weapons the General always wore.
“His Will is my Command” - said the General standing up. He walked and picked up those items, then stopped and looked at the tech - “Will you take me to him then?”
The tech worker ran to the elevator and waited for the General to catch up. How he could move so easily after a millennia of sleep, the worker did not know.
When the General entered the Emperor room he saw him, in the middle of it, a big yellow ball of energy; but, at the same time, he could see some of his other dimensions, and there he would see an old tree in the middle of it with something similar to a face, eyes closed, as if absorbing everything that happened around him.
“Ah! Z’hrum! A thousand years have passed since our last meeting” - the Emperor exclaimed - “I’m so sorry to wake you up before your slumber ended but I do have need of your talents”
The General kneeled, or that he seemed to do, difficult to say when you’re talking about a massive squid with twelve appendixes.
“Happy to be of assistance you Excellency, pray tell me what do you need me to do” - was the General response
“There’s this race we have just encountered, you’d think small if you saw their planet, but they
are almost 8 billion beings, bipedal, social, carbon-based and theirs is a death-world, much more dangerous than yours ever were” - the Emperor said - “I want them conquered and assimilated, and it has to be fast or we risk a hundred year War. I want as much of them alive as possible and willing to join the Empire, some sacrifices will have to be made with a belligerent species like this one but they’re filled with possibilities and capable of both wonders and nightmares, so try to keep them at minimum“
Still kneeling, the General dropped his head as a gesture of submission.
“Your Will is my Command my liege” - was the General answer. So he stood up and left the room.
Outside, the same worker who woke him was waiting for him.
“We have prepared a room for you to read and watch everything we have on these species, if you follow me” - instructed the worker.
Although he should be unfamiliar with new technologies they had prepared a room like the ones he used in the past. The past… for him almost no time has passed since he fell into slumber until waking up minutes ago; for the Empire, a thousand years had passed.
He spent the next three days reading and watching everything they had about humans, and it was a lot. Apparently humans had this thing called the Internet where you could find all the information about their species, history, culture, languages, anatomy, medical information, etc.
Their wars were horrifying to put it mildly; he thought it was a shame that the Emperor wanted it to be quick because he would love to challenge them. But then he discovered what they understood as hobbies and sports; they were completely a class of their own in their pursuit of risk and injury, or ‘adrenaline rush’ as they called it. Yes, he could first conquer them and then participate in their sports and fight with their best warriors.
The whole concept of adrenaline was something that made him understand why the Emperor was sure that they would fight back like devils; to have evolved a hormone that would give a body a boost to strength, speed, reflexes, it was a really interesting subject that they could use on the rest of races of the Empire.
He read and watched their horror stories, to find what they were afraid of, but in those stories there was almost always one brave person who would risk limb and body to help others or fight their fears. Still, an idea was starting to form, but there were some things he needed and he wasn’t sure if they were even possible.
He accessed the UpLink Network, with his security clearance he could access every single bit of information, so he found what he was looking for and quickly ran the numbers on his head.
“Yeah, I can work with that” - he thought
Next thing was contacting all the heads of the guilds and making a meeting. He booked a meeting room in a space station a few minutes from the Capital and sent the notice that they had to bring two aides each.
He then went to visit the Emperor to tell him about his strategy, he was sure he would love it, they had had some matches in all kinds of strategy games and they were evenly matched.
“So that’s the whole idea” - the General said after explaining his plan
“I like it, I knew I could count on you. There are some finer points like you will have to make a public appearance to calm the public, this might be an Empire but you know I want everyone to be happy and enjoy their lives” - explained the Emperor
The General grumbled, he loathed public appearances.
“¡Come on!” - said the Emperor, smiling - “It will be good for morale!”
The General sighed, he could not say no to his old friend and Emperor.
“Your Will is my Command my liege” - the General responded, albeit disgruntledly.
“Well that’s more like it! And remember, try not to kill many humans, your plan is really good but they WILL put up a fight” - said the Emperor - “And don’t worry about funds. My Official Seal will guarantee you get everything you want. In fact I just made an Imperial Edict granting you such authority, in case someone forgot”
The meeting with the guilds was to happen in two days' time so he booked his public appearance for tomorrow, it would be a way of pressuring them to accept and willingly work towards the Emperor's wishes.
It would be a press conference in the Capital main Theater, the acoustics were good and there was room for about twenty thousand beings.
With less than 30h to work, the guilds were crazy trying to set everything up. What were his colors? How would light affect him? And what about his voice? No one alive had seen the General in person and the news of him being awoken for a new project were hammering the UpLink Network like nothing had for a century. They had some paintings but those were surely not enough to work with.
The engineer guild decided to contact him, they did know about his murderous personality but had a professional fame to maintain.
So the General visited the site a few hours before the press conference in order for the technicians to do the finishing touches regarding lights and sound.
The General waited for the scheduled hour in a special room, meditating, he had to be calm and convince the people. Granted, he would rather push them to the brink of existence and killed them where they stood if they complained, but this Empire he helped create was to allow the Universe to grow together and learn from each other, there currently were more than a hundred species and more than a thousand planets, almost two galaxies that proudly said they were part of the greatest galactic Empire that had ever existed. All of them working towards a brilliant and exciting future. Yes, he should go with that.
When the moment came he moved to the main stage, took a deep breath and stepped into it.
All the seats were occupied. Holo-cameras, old-style cameras, all of them started to flash and film, not wanting to miss any second of his appearance.
He moved to the pulpit in the middle of the stage, his red coat moving with his steps, his sword sheathed on his left side and his gun by his right side, he would feel naked without them.
Once he stood in the pulpit everything went silent, as if everyone there were holding their breath.
“Dear citizens of the Empire.” - he started - “I come before you today to announce that I’ve been awoken to take care of the next conquest, by the Emperor Will we will acquire a new species”
He looked at everyone around him, some surprised, some intrigued. He smiled internally.
“This next project is going to be difficult and it will require everyone to do their best in order to do it without much loss of life. I know I can count on all the guilds’ support and expect every Empire citizen to follow my instructions as if they came by the Emperor himself. His will is Our Command” - he finished, looking at everyone.
“His Will is Our Command” - they all responded in unison.
The General waited for a few seconds, smiling.
“Now I will take some questions” - the General said, and then looked at the amount of appendages raised and pointed to a bright being, something like a dryad, that was sitting in the front.
“I suppose everything regarding the mission is currently classified” - a soft voice with a nice ring said - “So, how does it feel to be awakened after a thousand years”
“Well, the Empire is not what I remembered. We have acquired so many species and grown so much. But it is exactly what the Emperor had promised it would be. My only wish is that we can integrate this new species and show them that they will be better with us” - he answered, pointing then to another being, an insectoid one with three appendages (arms? he thought) raised enthusiastically.
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“Is there anything not classified that you can tell us about this new species?” - the insectoid being asked
“Well, let me think. I can tell you they are carbon based and bipedal” - some whispering started between the attendants - “And they come from a category 5 Death-World” - the whispering became a murmur.
The press conference continued for an hour or so. He would attend questions, say unclassified information that was already getting published as he spoke, and refuse to answer some. It wasn’t hard but he ended up completely drained. That, for him, was harder than a month-long siege.
Next was the meeting with all the Guild heads, he was really looking forward to it, that was much more his arena.
He was the first to arrive to the station, everyone looking at him now that the public knew who he really was, but he emitted a “fuck you and leave me alone” aura so powerful no one dared to approach him, he liked it this way.
He went to the conference room and prepared himself for what was about to happen.
A few hours later, all the heads of the guilds started arriving. Some with only one aide, some with two. The explorer guild, medical, military, construction, logistics, food, research, communications, intelligence, all came forward.
Once everyone had arrived and were seated - or the closest thing, there were some species there who were unable to physically sit - he stood up and began.
“Thank you for coming today” - said the General with a deep voice that made everyone else keep quiet and look at him. - “I guess you saw my public conference yesterday so you can imagine why I called for you today.
“I’ve already designed a plan to conquer this new species in a quick way, you’re here today to learn of your part on this plan and make contributions, in the exceptionally rare case that I’ve missed something” - he continued looking at their expressions
“And that’s what the Emperor and I expect from you, your contribution. Any complaint will be dealt with by your sudden and quick death then an aide will take your place, that’s why they’re here” - he said, making a pause to let the terror of what he had just said fill them.
“Excuse me general but.. “ - was all the head of the military guild could say before being erased from existence, not even dust remained where he once was, the General putting away his gun in a slow movement.
The General looked at one of the military aides looking by his side in panic, no one dared to make a comment.
“So, this is the plan” - the General started again.
During the next hours he explained the plan, some comments were made about how to better use the technologies and a very few improvements were made.
They would start sending six covert-ops teams to gather as much information as possible, those covert-ops would be on a higher dimension plane so the humans would never even know they were being watched.
Throughout the following six months the Empire would construct thousands of ships and accelerate the training for anyone in their last months or years of apprenticeship, those would be sent to fill current posts and replace veterans who would be then sent to prepare for the conquest. They would also prepare four worlds (some were Super-Earths but with a similar gravity) to host millions of humans for a faster integration into the Empire.
They already had a lot of data thanks to Facebook, Twitter, Weibo and other social networks. Still, they would deploy 120 billion nano stealth drones that would place themselves targeting everyone, one drone per person and a few more to target other things like medical equipment for those in a hospital bed, some for industries, computers, pets, etc. Although the number might seem huge there are approximately 100 billion neurons in a human brain and the nano stealth drones weren’t much bigger than that.
Another thing the covert-ops were supposed to do during those months was kidnap some people, from what the General had found it was quite possible to find lots of someones who didn’t have anyone who would miss them.
These people would be sent to the medical guild to improve the Empire's knowledge about the human body. There was one thing to have the data from the Internet but another quite different to be able to test with real subjects.
They were basically moving the whole of the Empire to prepare for that conquest, 100 different species, almost a thousand worlds all united with one goal in mind, to do the Emperor’s will.
Six months after that meeting, the thousands of ships were all ready to jump to the Sol system.
The General was on the bridge of the K’lendah, a fully technological ship 900m long, and he was smiling looking at the view.
There were the massive Bio-House ships, a new class created for this expedition. They were like a huge sphere about 40km in diameter. There were 5 of them and they had individual cells to host the whole of humanity.
Then you had the Pranika class, which looked like a 550m building flat on the ground, filled with weapons but powered by an artificial black hole; those were part of the second wave.
And the spearhead, 12 Kiriller class, 1km long half-biological and with the mass reduced and calculated to not impact the planet they were supposed to conquer.
You could also see hundreds of medical ships, logistics, small cruisers and frigates that would surround the formation, and a couple of massive battleships 3km long to basically tell anyone with funny ideas ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you’.
The General gave the order and they all jumped.
Thousands of ships appeared on the edge of the Sol system.
Those really massive ships had to remain there so they wouldn’t affect the gravitational forces between the planets and their moons.
The plan, the short version of it, was to kidnap the whole of humanity, finish the scan of their cities and world so they could be digitized and have a virtual world where to check the past, and then erase and reconstruct everything that was not necessary.
All the accumulated knowledge of humanity plus a real 3d copy of the current state of Earth wouldn’t take much space in the Empire database systems, they already had the same information of all the Empire races available to everyone.
Thanks to the Internet and government systems they had a database of who was what, about 95% percent of human beings were registered on it, the rest they could interrogate.
Humans didn’t even stand a chance. Apart from the nanobots that had been targeting human beings, the covert-ops had installed scanners throughout the most populated places and places of interest.
They had even installed devices in cargo ships, planes, and submarines, the drones were everywhere but no human could even see them or detect them, and every human being had his own nano stealth bot assigned and had been followed for months.
Then when the moment came, in a synchronized movement a lot of things happened almost at the same time.
Some smaller ships jumped throughout the Sol system to deploy beacons and boosters. Massive ships jumped to Earth and started beaming every one out, with the boosters’ help they were being sent to those ships at the edge of their system.
They would also beam up things like planes and naval ships, satellites, food stocks, in order to avoid any unnecessary damage to the planet; and they didn’t forget about their pets either, every human would be beamed up with their personal pets in their same cell.
For those who were awake the experience was traumatic, one second they were doing whatever and the next they were in a small cell, in the edge of their solar system unbeknownst to them.
The cells were soundproof, 3 square meters of a padded grey material.
Five minutes after everything had begun the second wave ships were entering the Earth atmosphere going straight to centralized points in every continent.
That was when in all the cells a small screen appeared, showing them what was going on.
Everyone would get personalized images from their city, showing them empty streets and empty buildings and the massive ships descending in the sky background.
Then the second wave started erasing the cities and buildings, one moment they were there and the next one nothing remained.
Even those cities with underground transport, gone, only a hole remained there.
To finish breaking the human’s will, the screen then showed the hundreds of millions of people in a grid, showing the individual cells and the scared faces of everyone; then the interior of the BioShips so they could get the scale of where they really were, with thousands of beings on guard.
Those beings were mainly insectoid, huge 2m ant-like forms, and arachnoid, huge 3m tall-5m long spider-like forms, but among them there were some things that humans could just define as “moving blobs”. The General had done his work and knew what would terrify humans.
Then, after a few minutes of playing those scenes, a message sounded in every cell, again with the particular language that whoever was on that cell had as main.
“Hello humans, I am here to inform you that you have been conquered and will, from this moment on, be part of the Galactic Empire” - the voice of the General said, helped by the translator system.
“Some of you might think about resisting, some of you would like to put up a fight. That is why I have decided to show you how easy it is for us to erase you.” - the General continued while images of cities being removed from existence appeared on the screens.
“You will remain here in this cell for a few days, some might be here long, it only depends on you really.
“I have been asked by the Emperor himself to kill as few humans as possible but to be honest I’m only interested in your younglings. I understand you humans have a profound sense of family, think about them when being interviewed.
“Some of you will be sent back to Earth, some will be sent to other planets for your training and re-education. Those who wish to fight and refuse the Empire will be dealt with accordingly.” - and again the screen showed more factories and constructions being erased from existence.
“But fear not. You are not to be treated as prisoners. You will each have a comfortable house and all necessities covered. Your loved ones who were sick are currently being treated with the best the Empire has to offer” - and the screen switched to some humans in tanks filled with a watery deep blue substance, zooming to show how amputees had their limbs starting to grow.
“Even your feared cancer or genetic disorders are something the Empire can trivially heal, and we’re currently doing it for thousands of you” - and then the screens showed more humans in healing chambers, but the images were customized so whoever had a closer friend or family sick with cancer would see them in the chamber, supposedly being healed.
“Is the goal of the Emperor to have everyone happy and enjoying their lives, to work together for a bright and united future” - and the screen switched to show what would seem like a massive Shopping Mall to human beings, but on those images were lots of different beings. Some insectoid, some that looked animal, some blobs, some cylinders that moved by themselves with some kind of gas inside.
Then the screen switched to show only the General, full body, with his red coat, sword and gun at his sides, two appendages crossed in front of him.
“So, in the next few days when you go through your interviews, think about what you really want to do and how you can contribute to the Empire. Artists, athletes, thinkers, tinkerers, dreamers, builders, researchers, military, medics, engineers, we look forward to welcoming you to the Empire.” - he finished.
They would give them a couple hours to scream, cry, and think about it.
Meanwhile, the Earth reconstruction continued at an almost impossible rhythm.
The ships that had the artificial black hole were being dismantled and becoming the power center of each continent, no more nuclear plants or carbon plants, or anything else human-made for that matter.
Hundreds of ships filled with builders descended and started building in place of the old cities; they had been planned to respect as much as the original design as possible but incorporating the Empire technologies.
Then the interviews began. A door would appear on some cells with two insectoids as guards outside one ant and one spider , then a being that would look like a humanoid wolf would come into the cell, call that person by their name and ask them to follow them.
Whoever put up a fight would be fighting a 2m tall ant and a 2m tall 3m long spider, all of them way stronger than your typical human.
For military and fighter types the guard was doubled.
The interviews would go through everyone's knowledge and abilities, even if you were illiterate the interviewer had systems to properly graduate everyone's talents.
Then a job would be assigned and training sessions scheduled to help everyone learn the Empire ways.
The General knew he wouldn’t be able to convince everyone at first, and that some would only act as if they agreed, that’s why more nanobots were deployed to continue their vigilance and the cells could also scan for temperature, heart rate, etc.
The food logistics had also been an interesting puzzle and a headache for the logistics guild, but they had managed to deliver every human with their favorite foods while they were imprisoned, beaming the food stocks had been an important part of it.
Three days after the conquest had begun, approximately 40% of humans had already been assigned new jobs and housing and were already on their way to their new homes, some of those being sent back to Earth.
The third day Earth had already been almost 72 hours without carbon emission of any human kind and any problem surging from the sudden disappearance of the cities had been sorted out. Train tracks removed, bridges and dams erased, anything of human construction removed from the face of the Earth and being replaced by Empire buildings and infrastructures.
They copied the human idea of entertaining centers so football fields, basket courts, athletics tracks, ski slopes, concert halls, etc. were constructed in a similar place as they were before.
Since they had six months planning most of that construction had already been done and the builders just had to beam the pieces down and assemble them.
That was when the General spoke with the remaining humans again.
“I can see there are some of you that still are not clear on the message.” - he said, turning the screens on again to show the current status of the planet - “As you can see the Earth as you knew it doesn’t exist any more; you would be fighting for something that belongs to the past.” - he paused to give them a few moments to swallow the truth.
“I’ll give you all 48 more of your hours to decide. But keep in mind we have convinced enough humans to call this operation a success and whoever hasn’t decided after those hours will disappear from existence, much in the same way as your cities and contamination have” - he finished.
But he knew some would still resist. Some of the ‘rich and powerful’ had nothing to bring to the Empire but their greed, and some of those had already been disposed of.
Some of the military, the religious zealots, the fascist and dictators, the selfish, the racist and xenophobic, would never have a place in the Empire, he could remove them too without losing too much face in front of the Emperor.
He hoped more would see the benefit the Empire was bringing to humanity, but only time would tell. He had also planned a couple decades for re-education and integration in their society but the harder part was almost finished.
In the end, a month after it all began, he was on his way to the Emperor with the numbers being around 70% of humans becoming part of the Empire; the rest had been summarily executed, erased from existence. Most of those had been criminals, drug lords, rich people and other sociopaths.
All the humans being treated who were healed or almost healed and voluntarily joined the Empire, some convincing friends and family along the way.
Even the mentally ill were cured, for some of them was more like a ‘perpetual treatment’ but they had improved so much they didn’t even feel sick anymore, and promised to work with the medical guild to help them find a definite cure.
The humans back on Earth were still feeling the impact of losing their world, that would probably last a few years, but the planet population had been reduced to around 4 billions and they all had individual spacious housing and anything they would require.
Religious faith was not officially suppressed but there were no more churches or mosques or anything similar to that; it was ok if you individually wanted to follow a faith as long as you didn’t try to impose it on others.
News programs had started again, TV shows and movies had started their production again, sports leagues were slowly restarting and the Internet as they knew it was now a small bit of the UpLink network.
Everyone had mandatory classes to learn galactic language and their assigned contribution, they also had a holo-room in their house where they could walk the old Earth and even enter and visit their old apartments if they wished.
Schools were also starting again, they all had alien teachers and everyone carried their translators until their galactic was up to speed. It was science and math focused teaching, languages were optional and history, well, they had the whole Empire history available to them on the libraries of the UpLink so it was more considered a hobby.
The work and school hours had also been reduced, with the goal of having people enjoying their life doing whatever they felt like doing.
That was the beginning of humanity's integration into the Empire, it would take them a decade to solidify their presence and get used to their current situation.