Post by dragonlipz on Apr 3, 2009 15:33:59 GMT 12
Solange emerged at sundown from the lean-to to examine the night sky and weigh the possibilities of signaling someone, anyone, in orbit. With any luck she’d be able to see a ship moving across the night sky. That would make a decision about expending any of her meager power resources easier. That is, if (one big! if) anyone was still in orbit around this godforsaken rock. It was a long shot and the only ones left up there were likely to be the Emus – a nickname for the Weee’ya-Hoo’sa-Faa’mam, which roughly translated to ‘the chosen ones’. The Emus were a recently encountered race (twenty years ago) that had instigated hostilities shortly after that first contact. Not that they’d singled out the PanStellar Confederation for special abuse, they were xenophobic by nature, at war with every species they’d met. That is, they waged war on the species that had survived their vicious and creative capacity to wreak havoc on the their enemies – which was everyone.
Nearly three meters tall and an avian resemblance to the large flightless birds of mankind’s original home inspired the first Marine combat units that engaged them to dub them ‘Emus’. Emus were feathered with long necks, longer legs, and a nasty disposition. They’d evolved an opposable thumb to go with the hand and three other fingers at the end of a wing that was a functional arm; they’d never been able to fly. If they had, perhaps the galaxy would have been spared their carnage, perhaps not. They communicated by using staccato chirps and burps from a voicebox deep in the neck.
The Emus were extremely intelligent with an innovative and advanced technology that was at least a step up on every other species they’d encountered. Their ships used an ion torch drive that was capable of propelling their huge ships to near light speeds. This technology was used for intra-solar system operations. For light year distances, these same vessels used an unknown technology to ‘jump’ between star systems. Only one Emu starship had been captured intact and the preliminary examination had sparked more questions than answers. That vessel self-destructed only ten standard hours after its capture when engineers tried to log-on to the ship’s AI. More puzzling was the fact that it didn’t explode. It had dissolved in a matter of seconds. Most of the engineers, marines, and techs examining the vessel had survived the sudden dissolution of the Emu vessel. The information tight beamed and saved was the only record of the examination. It was another mystery to add to the volume of mysteries regarding the bird-like aliens. Smaller vessels had been captured as well as weapons and a few Emu. Very few had been captured: Emus didn’t surrender and they didn’t take prisoners.
Emu hand weapons fired blasts of coherent light that had taken out a starship at close range. Reverse engineering so far had yielded negative results; mostly because the material technology was not understood. The Emu had an understanding and application of nanotech materials that was second to none. Their body armor shed heat and kinetic impact like water off a duck’s butt! Truly amazing stuff.
They had all of that and an attitude to match. The only thing that had spared the galaxy from complete domination was the vast size and logistics involved. The Emu could only be so many places at once. Even so, they went where and when they pleased and if you got in their way, may your gods help you. The Emu practiced domination and slavery with a religious fervor. From what little was known of them, domination and slavery WERE integral elements of their religion. Perhaps even sacraments. ‘Neutralization’ (read: ‘Elimination’) of the Emu race from the galactic stage was a rare unifying event in the PanStellar Confederation. The five remaining PanStellar Confederation member races had embraced self-survival with a fervor and a level of commitment unprecedented in the three hundred year history of the confederation. Each species had pledged their best, most experienced troops and weapon systems to deal with the Emu menace. In reality; the best troops and weapon systems each species possessed were delegated to the defense of the home worlds; while the major ‘resources’ were devoted to recruiting eager, hapless, fodder for sacrifice to the Emu war machine. The strategy was to force the Emu to expend far more resources than they could afford in their genocidal efforts. So far, this had been a half-assed plan at best, which was an unqualified success by any measure.
In this instance ‘success’ means survival. All five remaining species were surviving the Emu onslaught for the moment. The forces recruited by the Confederation for ‘interdiction and engagement’ had a fifty percent casualty rate. Four members of the Confederation judged these losses acceptable. The fifth, a non-spacefaring mammalian species very similar to a terrestrial raccoon, merely accepted the losses. They had no other option.
Solange was an enhanced, bio-engineered human recruit from Paradise in the Obama system. Paradise was an ‘M’ class planet with an equatorial island continent that was home to ninety-five percent of the population. She was part of the other five percent that called Paradise home. Her family lived in a raft community in the northern hemisphere. The colony survived by cultivating marine protein and fauna. She grew up on a nano-carbon lattice grown for the express purpose of providing habitat for humans. Her first sixteen standard years were spent learning to thrive and survive on the vast, rambling, carbon fiber raft. When she swam out to the recruiters vessel that had landed a few hundred yards from the six hectare raft she lived on with a thousand other colonists it was for the purpose of never looking back. She ached for something, anything that would get her away from this endless ocean. She’d never been on dry land in her whole life. She said goodbye to her parents, brothers (who cried like littles) and older sister – who also cried, but she was being married off in a month, So?
So Solange started her life by giving up her old one.
Nearly three meters tall and an avian resemblance to the large flightless birds of mankind’s original home inspired the first Marine combat units that engaged them to dub them ‘Emus’. Emus were feathered with long necks, longer legs, and a nasty disposition. They’d evolved an opposable thumb to go with the hand and three other fingers at the end of a wing that was a functional arm; they’d never been able to fly. If they had, perhaps the galaxy would have been spared their carnage, perhaps not. They communicated by using staccato chirps and burps from a voicebox deep in the neck.
The Emus were extremely intelligent with an innovative and advanced technology that was at least a step up on every other species they’d encountered. Their ships used an ion torch drive that was capable of propelling their huge ships to near light speeds. This technology was used for intra-solar system operations. For light year distances, these same vessels used an unknown technology to ‘jump’ between star systems. Only one Emu starship had been captured intact and the preliminary examination had sparked more questions than answers. That vessel self-destructed only ten standard hours after its capture when engineers tried to log-on to the ship’s AI. More puzzling was the fact that it didn’t explode. It had dissolved in a matter of seconds. Most of the engineers, marines, and techs examining the vessel had survived the sudden dissolution of the Emu vessel. The information tight beamed and saved was the only record of the examination. It was another mystery to add to the volume of mysteries regarding the bird-like aliens. Smaller vessels had been captured as well as weapons and a few Emu. Very few had been captured: Emus didn’t surrender and they didn’t take prisoners.
Emu hand weapons fired blasts of coherent light that had taken out a starship at close range. Reverse engineering so far had yielded negative results; mostly because the material technology was not understood. The Emu had an understanding and application of nanotech materials that was second to none. Their body armor shed heat and kinetic impact like water off a duck’s butt! Truly amazing stuff.
They had all of that and an attitude to match. The only thing that had spared the galaxy from complete domination was the vast size and logistics involved. The Emu could only be so many places at once. Even so, they went where and when they pleased and if you got in their way, may your gods help you. The Emu practiced domination and slavery with a religious fervor. From what little was known of them, domination and slavery WERE integral elements of their religion. Perhaps even sacraments. ‘Neutralization’ (read: ‘Elimination’) of the Emu race from the galactic stage was a rare unifying event in the PanStellar Confederation. The five remaining PanStellar Confederation member races had embraced self-survival with a fervor and a level of commitment unprecedented in the three hundred year history of the confederation. Each species had pledged their best, most experienced troops and weapon systems to deal with the Emu menace. In reality; the best troops and weapon systems each species possessed were delegated to the defense of the home worlds; while the major ‘resources’ were devoted to recruiting eager, hapless, fodder for sacrifice to the Emu war machine. The strategy was to force the Emu to expend far more resources than they could afford in their genocidal efforts. So far, this had been a half-assed plan at best, which was an unqualified success by any measure.
In this instance ‘success’ means survival. All five remaining species were surviving the Emu onslaught for the moment. The forces recruited by the Confederation for ‘interdiction and engagement’ had a fifty percent casualty rate. Four members of the Confederation judged these losses acceptable. The fifth, a non-spacefaring mammalian species very similar to a terrestrial raccoon, merely accepted the losses. They had no other option.
Solange was an enhanced, bio-engineered human recruit from Paradise in the Obama system. Paradise was an ‘M’ class planet with an equatorial island continent that was home to ninety-five percent of the population. She was part of the other five percent that called Paradise home. Her family lived in a raft community in the northern hemisphere. The colony survived by cultivating marine protein and fauna. She grew up on a nano-carbon lattice grown for the express purpose of providing habitat for humans. Her first sixteen standard years were spent learning to thrive and survive on the vast, rambling, carbon fiber raft. When she swam out to the recruiters vessel that had landed a few hundred yards from the six hectare raft she lived on with a thousand other colonists it was for the purpose of never looking back. She ached for something, anything that would get her away from this endless ocean. She’d never been on dry land in her whole life. She said goodbye to her parents, brothers (who cried like littles) and older sister – who also cried, but she was being married off in a month, So?
So Solange started her life by giving up her old one.