apocalypse – War of the galaxy

Prologue

MOON RESEARCH OUTPOST – 3294 AD

The spacecraft was emitting a low humming sound. It was sign of the good condition of the craft’s electronics. This satisfied the cosmonaut standing beside. He had recently spent 30000 charges on getting it completely serviced. Impatient that he was, he looked at the display of the refueling terminal for the fourth time. He noted that now almost 3 quarters of the tank was filled. Since it would take another 30 minutes for the craft to be completely refuelled, he moved towards the glass panels that lined the walls of the outpost.

From here, he could see the Planet Earth. Wow! It looked so peaceful. Since the moon was completely under the control of the HUMANOID GOVERNMENT of planet earth it, was the safest place for an humanoid like himself to be in.

Out there in the distance, he could see a fleet of spacecrafts being launched from earth. Even before they could come closer, Moonking, the cosmonaut, knew that they were FIREFLIES. Fireflies are the rapid attack regiment of the ROYAL SPACE ARMY of The Republic of Earth. They must be heading towards Mars or Saturn, where the rebellion was most intense. It had been a longtime dream of Moonking’s to be a Firefly. But, for now, he was a mere foot soldier in Her Majesty’s cavalry. Her Majesty was, of course, the Queen of Humanoids.

He was suddenly disturbed by a BEEP from the fuel terminal. The tank was full. All he had to do now was charge the batteries and he would be good to go.

This sudden realisation sparked a fondness for the outpost in Moonking’s mind. For several years, since he came of age, he had been a soldier in the personal army of Her Majesty, all the while wanting to be a Firefly. Just when he was about to enroll himself in the Firefly Training Programme, he was ordered by Her Majesty, to take up the responsiblity of managing the MOON RESEARCH OUTPOST. Alone. Even though, he was mightily disappointed, he took up the job out of fear and respect for the Queen. And he had been staying at the Moon for the past 2 years, when again he was summoned by Her Majesty.

This time, Moonking was expecting to be called. Because, very recently, the KINGDOM OF ZECHULIA, have, once again, breached the peace treaty and attacked the AMPHIBIYANAS of the Planet Pluto. Even though, Pluto was very near to the border of the sovereignty of Earth, it still was a part of Her Majesty’s colonies. Not only the Solar System, but Zechulians, have also attacked two other Star Systems. Though, no official Declaration of War came from the Kingdom of Zechulia, knowing about their previous notoriety, we can safely assume that war it is.

But now, Moonking was given a strange task by Her Majesty. She handed to him a Messenger Device, and tasked him with delivering it to her brother. Her Majesty’s brother was one of the COMMANDER GENERALS of Earth’s vast army. Right now, he was on Planet Jupiter, waging a fierce war with the rebels.
Jupiter was one of the first Earth Colonies, to rise up in rebellion, against the rule of the humanoids. Moonking was honored to be given such an important job, because a Messenger Device is only used, when the message is of high importance. For fear of being interpreted by enemies, it can not be transmitted. It had to be delivered personally.

By now, the batteries were fully charged, and the spacecraft was ready to go. He boarded the craft and put on his seatbelt. The gates opened wide and the spacecraft moved towards the lauchpad. Behind him the gates closed. He was pleased to note that his oxygen supply was enough to last 7 light years. With his seatbelts ON, the spacecraft fully fuelled and more than 2 million charges in his account, Moonking was ready to voyage into space.

Chapter 1 – The Hitchhiker

Somewhere deep in outer space

The spacecraft was cruising at an optimum pace, through the vast expanse of space. It had been a day since he departed Moon. For the past one hour, Moonking had put the craft on autopilot and was napping.

His immediate stop was the planet Mars. Even though, his destination was Jupiter, it was not easy for a normal CLASS 2 soldier like himself to commit interplanetary travel of such distance. One has to be a CLASS 8 or higher, to travel planets uninterrupted. Moonking had to move from one planet to the another. Every planet has a SPACE PORT, filled with customs officials and securities. In recent years, the checkings have become more intense, because of the threat of surprise attacks by the rebels organization.

A recurring beep sound emerged from the navigation console of the spacecraft, which woke up Moonking. Within moments, he resumed control of the ship and steered it towards the now near Mars Space Port. He received a message from the port asking him to identify himself. He pressed the audio button and said into the mic, ” Moonking. On special duty from Her Majesty. Soldier. Class 2″.
He was soon alloted a strip to land his craft and after sometime, he found himself at the lobby waiting for immigration.

The officer reviewed his official papers issued to him by the Headquarters at Earth. After being cleared, Moonking was given an dust resistant suit and other necessary equipments to aid him in his stay on Mars.

He moved out of the port, only to be met with a hot gust of wind and dust. Mars was practically a desert planet, with not an ounce of water. When the first humanoids came to Mars, the terrestrials were a primitive race. The Martians looked a lot different than the humanoids.Unlike humanoids they looked taller and leaner. Future medical research would reveal that they had only the bare minimum of organs, necessary for survival. Moreover, there was no development of any sort on the planet. It proved to be very easy for the humanoids to colonise Mars. Humanoids taught the Martians to work in the mines.

Because of the thin atmosphere and its close proximity to the Sun, the Mars was not easily inhabitable to the humanoids. Hence only a handful of humanoids settled here, most of them being researchers and soldiers assigned to protect the research facilities. But the terrain was rich in minerals and the naive Martians provided good labour. And in a span of 25 Earth years, humanoids had completely tamed Mars. From then onwards, interplanetary expansion took place from Mars. In this way, everytime a new planet is colonized, the cost of travelling from Earth to that planet is saved, thereby making future expansion easier.

Now he had to reach the MARS RESEARCH CENTRE, set up at 500 kilometers from the port. Since he had no personal vehicle, he had to hitchhike with someone who went towards his destination. He checked his map and started walking towards east.

It had been a long time, since he left the port. Unlike Earth, which is cramped with buildings and settlements, Mars was deserted as far as he could see. Because of the abundant landmass and sparse population, the settlements were so far and few in between.

On one of the occasions, he would turn around to look for vehicles, he saw a DESERT HOVER coming from afar. He stood by and waved his hands to catch the driver’s attention. The rover was old and rusty, but seemed to run well. Fortunately, the driver seemed to have noticed him and the rover slowed down.Obviously, the vehicle must be owned by a humanoid. Because, the martians were not allowed to drive or own any kind of vehicle.

In a few moments, he was seated inside the rover comfortably.

” So? What did you say your name was? “, asked the man.
” I am Moonking. And you?”
” Mine’s Rogere Bear. So you are a bastard, ah? “, said Rogere.
People like me, who do not know their father, were not given proper humanoid names, like Rogere’s.
Mostly Moonking was not embarrassed by this, but the rude manner of Rogere’s question put him off. But he had to get to the MARS SPACE RESEARCH CENTRE soon.
“Yes sir. I don’t know my ancestry. “, replied Moonking, politely.
Rogere then offered him a cool beer, but Moonking declined. He was in no mood to drink with this man.
They sat in silence. As the rover sped on its way, Moonking saw a lot of martians walking on the roadsides. The martians body was made of a jell like substance, that was flexible but durable. The average martian grew upto 8 ft tall. Their eyes were covered by a three layered skin protecting it from dust storms.

Occasionally, Rogere would throw an empty beer can on the passing martians, evoking angry shouts from them. Even though, his behavior irritated him, Moonking bit his teeth and remained silent. Then the road split into two ways. Towards the right was Moonking’s destination, and Rogere was supposed to go left. In fact, he was glad that he could shrug Rogere off.

He saw Rogere’s hover move far way in the distance. Moonking guessed that he must be one of the soldiers posted in Mars. Contempt for the martians was common among the soldiers of the Martian Project. According to one of Earth’s worst kept secrets, a Mars Research Centre was built by completely annihilating a tribe of Martians, who were settled at the proposed site. There were almost 7 Research Centres on Mars and two more are under construction right now. Moonking wondered, which among those advanced centres were built on the blood of these primitive martians. Unbeknownst to him, it was the one he was currently heading to.

Since, the solar day of the Earth and Mars are almost the same, Moonking calculated he had approximately 2 more hours to reach the centre before nightfalls. Roaming out in the open was inadvisable on this planet. Ferocious flesh eating creatures came up from underground during nighttime, that even the native martians ran for cover.

After hours of travel, he neared the research centre just in time. Sun was about to set and in the twilight, Moonking could see both of Mars’ moons. Phobos and Daimos.

Chapter 2 – Sleepless Nights

Mars Research Centre

Moonking was wandering through the empty corridors of the research centre. Except him, almost everyone else was asleep. All was silent, except for the occasional beep sound of electronics. The centre looked and functioned like a spaceship. Sliding doors opened and closed with a whoosh.

That evening, when he arrived at the Mars Research Centre, he was surprised to find that they were expecting him. He was received by the centre’s Chief of Staff, Prestella, who escorted him to the waiting room outside Dokteur Mayoshi’s office. To his right, the secretary was typing away at a keyboard and attending calls in between.

He also saw a martian feminine, scrubbing the floors of the facility with a sponge. But the place was already as clean as a whistle. Just then, two men exited the Dokteur’s office, murmuring amongst themselves. The secretary glanced at him and Moonking promptly entered the office. Dokteur Mayoshi was seated behind his desk and he waved Moonking to sit in one of the adjacent chairs. From his name and looks, Moonking gathered that Mayoshi must be a descendant of the Nippon race of humans.
“Only this morning we received notification from Her Majesty’s office about your arrival”, began the Dokteur.
Not knowing what to say, Moonking just nodded.
“They have also directed us to provide you with equipments to aid you on your mission”, continued Mayoshi.
“Really!? That’s great. Can I see them now? “, asked an excited Moonking.
“I have some very urgent work right now. After dinner I will personally equip you. But right now, Prestella will give you a tour of the facility. Alright?”, asked the Dokteur.
Moonking, by now, was embarrassed by his childish behavior. Completely unprofessional. Not at all soldier like. But he quickly recovered himself.
“Yes sir. Sounds good”, replied Moonking, as he stood up.

It took several more hours for Prestella and Moonking to complete the tour. There were several laboratories, scattered around, each designated for different subjects of research.

Each lab had its own Chief Dokteur, and a team of cronies to aid him. Moonking understood that, Dokteur Mayoshi is the one who commands the entire research centre. Every other lab, every other Dokteur, must report back to him.

Moonking noticed a HUMMING sound coming from a distance. As Prestella took him further within the research facility, the sound kept on getting louder and louder. So loud that he could not even hear his own thoughts.

Until now, they were within the walls of the research centre. But now as they were moving towards the end of the path, the centre gave in to open space. Prestella put on a specialized suit which Moonking recognized as the upgraded version of the dust resistant that he was wearing now. Prestella told him to wear one as well. Two martian feminines helped both of them into their suits.

Moonking understood that they were now going to enter the central point of the research centre. As the path ended, Moonking was shocked to find miles of open space. Tens of thousands of martians, both masculine and feminine, were working as miners in this never ending valley. For every 10 martian, there was one humanoid soldier with a gun whose job was to keep the miners working.

This was one of the primary reasons why Mars was colonized in the first place. The abundance of minerals lying beneath its rough terrain, that remained untouched by the primitive martians. Every mineral ore found on Earth like iron, copper, zinc, etc. could be found on Mars as well. Unlike Earth whose minerals were depleted, the minerals on Mars would last the next 10000 years.

The miners used jackhammers to break the ground.
In places where the ground was hard and difficult for the miners to break, a drill rig was used. There were two drill rigs that were being operated simultaneously at two different parts of the valley. It was this sound that reverberated across the halls and corridors of the research centre. The combined forces of the machines and the miners with jackhammers caused the ground to tremble.

This sickened Moonking and made him unable to sleep that night. He wondered how the martians felt to be enslaved by an alien race in their own planet.

Prestella received a voice message from Mayoshi to come back for dinner. Prestella escorted him to the dining hall. Mayoshi and Moonking occupied the seats at two ends of the table. The meal was sumptuous and exotic. Moonking wondered whether such a meal was common or tonight was special because of him. There were several martian servants to attend to them. Throughout the dinner, servants kept serving one dish after the another. Their wine glasses were always refilled. But Moonking was disgusted by what he saw at the mine before. He was guilt ridden. He could not even look the martians in the eye.

After dinner, Mayoshi took him into the inventory. The inventory was empty, except for two big caskets lying at the center. On seeing the emblem of The Republic of Earth, imprinted on their top, Moonking knew they were from Earth. He had almost forgotten about the equipments, that Her Majesty had sent for him.

Mayoshi opened one of the caskets to reveal an advanced Class 4 suit. Unlike his white colored Class 2 suit, this one was black in color. On its chest was imprinted the flag of The Republic of Earth.

This new suit was adaptable to its surroundings. He won’t have to change suits in different planets anymore. He immediately put on his new suit. Moonking was a Class 4 soldier from now. He felt immensely proud of himself. It even had a compact pouch at his waist, that he used to store the messenger device.
The other casket was much bigger than the first one. Moonking wondered what was inside this one. Inside it, was a brand new Sonic Hover. Much more advanced than the Desert Hover that he came in that morning.

” You can use this when you depart to the space port two days from now.”, explained Mayoshi.

That night, a strange mix of pride and guilt, caused Moonking to stay awake. After two hours, of struggling to sleep, he gave up and began wandering. He moved randomly through the halls and corridors. The research centre was designed like a maze. Sometimes, he would see a martian still awake, still working. He wondered when the poor things slept. He now realized that he had come very far from his room. The day would break in a few hours and he turned around to get back to bed. His room was in the Dokteur’s quarters adjacent to Mayoshi’s room. As he neared the quarters, he could see a strange spaceship parked very near to the entrance. A group dressed in stealth black suit were moving about the premises, careful not to be seen by anyone.

But, unbeknownst to them, Moonking had seen them. He was standing at such a distance, that he could see them but they couldn’t see him. He immediately checked his pouch and was relieved to find the messenger device still in his possession.

He wondered what to do now. Quite possibly, he was the only one who had seen them. He had heard about competing research teams who hire thieves to steal data from other research facilities. He assumed they must be thieves who came to steal research data. Just as he made up his mind to alert Prestella, a massive explosion rocked the centre. Even before turning around, Moonking knew that the Dokteur’s quarters, the place where he was sleeping, is gone.

These people were definitely not thieves. They were mercenaries. Assigned to kill. Kill him.

Chapter 3 – Mercenaries

Chapter 3

The explosion caused a panic in the centre. Humanoids and martians alike, stumbled on each other, as they ran in search of cover in every direction. The mercenaries opened fire on anyone who neared them.

The security guards posted at the space centre were ill-equipped to counter the onslaught of the mercenaries. Despite that, a team of the guards fought valiantly and tried to contain the intruders within the quarters. If they spread out throughout the center, countless lives will be killed. At first, Moonking thought of joining the guards to help them fight the intruders. But then, he decided against it. Moonking had a strong intuition, that the attack was directed at him. Someone did not want him to complete his mission. Someone did not want the Commander General to receive the Queen’s message. And it seemed that person would go to any lengths to stop him.

The sudden explosion would have triggered an emergency signal at the Republic of Earth Office in Mars. It would take only a few moments for them to come with reinforcements and subdue the mercenaries. Considering this and the importance of his mission, Moonking decided to escape from this place.

He turned around and ran towards the inventory, where his new Sonic Hover was kept. Since, he already had the suit on, he can leave this place in no time. Against a wave of bodies colliding against each other, he struggled to make his way.

As he neared the inventory, he saw two soldiers engaged in a gun fight with a few mercenaries. He realised that the mercenaries must have split up into two groups, with one attacking the front and the other one attacking from behind. Since this group had very few numbers, nobody else except the two soldiers had noticed them. This new Class 4 suit provided Moonking with ultra range vision, that enabled him to view distant objects in close proximity. Using this feature, he quickly surmised that the only way to reach the inventory was through them.

As one of the two soldiers saw him come towards them, the soldier took his stiff hand towards his forehead in a salute. Moonking was still not used to being saluted by other soldiers. After all, only Class 2 and Class 3 soldiers were used as security guards in humanoid research centres across the solar system. Until that morning, Moonking had just been a Class 2 soldier. But he quickly gathered his wits and said, ” At ease “.

All three were now crouched behind pillars and caskets, hiding from enemy’s bullets. The enemy seemed to have Neutron implanted metallic bullets, which were immensely fatal.

They are available only in black markets, since they were outlawed by the humanoid government 10 earth years back.
Unlike the mercenaries, the soldier had a Multi – load Thermal Pistol, that had a very short range.

The other soldier was a few feet in front of Moonking, hidden behind a pillar. He was waging a fierce battle against the mercenaries. At least, he possessed Cataclysm Laser Gun, which was effective in combats like these.

Against the three of them, there were 5 mercenaries out of which, the soldiers seemed to have already killed 2.

Moonking, who had no gun, wondered what to do. At that time, the soldier at front decided to come back. As he left the cover of his pillar, a mercenary’s neutron implanted metallic bullet pierced his skull through his helmet. The walls were splattered with his brains. Blood flowed like a river on the floors. The soldier with Moonking, was petrified by the sight. In his fright, he stood up. Before Moonking could pull him down, two other bullets hit him in the chest and face. More brains. More blood.

Moonking realised he must have been a rookie, unexpectedly posted in Mars. He must have a normal family back on Earth, with an highschool sweetheart waiting for him to return and get married.

Most of the soldiers in the Royal Space Army of The Republic, like him, came from poor slum dwelling families. Their only reason for becoming a soldier was to beat poverty. But occasionally, some boys from well off families joined the army to serve the planet. Stupid patriotism.
The soldier must have been one of them. Moonking did not even get to know his name. This made Moonking sick with guilt and disgust.

He picked up the Cataclysm Laser gun from the hands of the dead soldier and began firing at the mercenaries. The mercenaries not knowing the presence of a third soldier left their cover. This proved lucky for Moonking as he shot dead two more mercenaries.

The last mercenary retreated. Moonking ran after him towards the inventory. Inside there, the mercenary was standing struggling to reload his gun. It seemed as though it was jammed. Moonking, without any hesitation, shot him dead.

As he boarded his hover, Moonking heard siren sounds coming from a distance. It was the Emergency Response team. It would only take them a few moments to bring things under control.

Without further ado, Moonking left for the Spaceport. He parked his hover at the parking spot, and reached for his spacecraft. On seeing the departures display board, he realised that he won’t be able to reach Jupiter immediately. Because the two planets were far away right now. It would take weeks for Mars and Jupiter to come closer. Moonking did not have weeks. Currently, the Planet Saturn was at the closest possible distance from Mars.

As Moonking launched his craft into the sky, he flew over the largest mountain range in the solar system.
Mount Olympus.

Chapter 4 – Origin of Humanoids

Hundreds of years ago, in the year 2154 AD, a nuclear explosion rocked the city of, what was then called, Tokyo. Back then, Earth was divided into provinces ruled by different groups of the human race. It is said that, the explosion was intentionally caused by one of the many enemy provinces of Tokyo.

This incident set in motion a series of wars among the different earth provinces. Nobody knows what caused the war. In history, this war was called The World War III.

In a war spanning 10 years, several nuclear bombs and missiles, were dropped on the allies and the enemies alike. At the end of a decade, the war came to an abrupt end, when a tsunami of waves devoured the island province of Australia. An entire continent, erased from the face of earth. The people were so caught up in the war, that they failed to realize the effects of the nuclear war. The explosions had caused a rapid and unnatural movement of tectonic plate. Ice continents melted, rising sea levels and peak atmospheric temperature caused several large landmasses to be submerged by the ocean. The nuclear war had unleashed a Nuclear Winter on the entire planet.

Generations of children born, lived and died without ever having seen the sun. The scattered colonies of humans went underground as the surface became utterly uninhabitable. After decades of such calamities, exactly 110 years after the first nuclear explosion, mankind woke up to see a glimpse of the sun beyond the clouds. The atmosphere seemed to be healing itself.

The new earth had only one large landmass surrounded on all sides by the ocean. It was understood that the continents of Africa, Asia and parts of Europe had forged to form this singular landmass. The new continent was named PANAGA. Only a handfull of humans of varying races, survived the nuclear winter.
The human population was a meagre 250000, in the year 2266 AD. The next hundred years were spent in rebuilding communities and forming strong relationship among humans. A government was formed to rule over the humans. The white race headed by FELIX ASHDOWN formed the first Government of Earth. Under their rule, mankind started farming, hunting and gathering for food. Technologies were rebuilt in double the time that it took to invent them in the pre-war era.Diseases plagued the last few survivors of humanity. The babies were born with severe deformities because of the radiation. The average lifespan of an individual had become 30. To counter this, humans started to genetically engineer their offsprings. Their DNA was altered to make humans strong, intelligent and much more adaptable to their surroundings. Thus the first generation of humanoids were born.

The Ashdown family ruled over Panaga for 3 generations. Until ANDREW ASHDOWN, the grandson of Felix Ashdown, was betrayed and killed by AMEER AL-ABRAHAM.

Ameer was the commander general of the armies of the north. There were some tribal warlords who still refused to bow down to the rule of the government. Ameer had conspired with them to kill Andrew and take over the government for himself. He brought Andrew to the mountains on the pretext of peace offering and killed him. But the VARMA family, who were loyal friends of the Ashdown’s for decades vowed revenge. Ameer and the warlords almost succeeded, but the head of the Varmas, INDRAJIT VARMA, fought valiantly to repel them from the city. The warlords retreated back to the mountains.Both Ameer and Indrajit died fighting.

The entire Ashdown family perished in the war. Andrew Ashdown had sent his wife and their 3 yr old son away, to a safe place away from the palace. But somehow, this information reached the ears of the tribals. Andrew’s wife was raped and murdered, while his son was beheaded. The Varmas then became the rulers of Panaga. During his reign, Indrajit Varma II, the son of Indrajit Varma, completely subdued the warlords. Many tribals came down from the mountains and entered normal life.

Humanoids understood that the Earth alone was not enough to survive. They had to explore space in search other inhabitable environments. When GALIAN, a Dokteur, first proposed the idea of colonisation of planets, he was mocked even by his fellow dokteurs. But Sukwhinder Varma, the son of Indrajit Varma II, patronized Galian’s research. It was the works of Galian, that has enabled the humanoids to colonise almost all of the solar system.

And so, in the year 2436 AD, the humanoids spacecraft landed on planet Mars.

Chapter 5 – Her Majesty

Central City, Earth – 3294 AD

It was like any other day in the city. Just a few hours since dawn and the people were already up. Even though, the city was spaciously built over a vast expanse of land, the morning buzz of people scampering to get to work on time, made it look cramped.

The city was vertically built on a series of mountains, such that, the least important people stayed in the lowest of the valley, while the most important people resided on the peak. This architecture had been decided centuries prior, to ensure proper chain of command. It was this decision made by her forefathers that enabled Her Majesty, The President JYOTI CELYN VARMA, to look over her city from the balcony of her palace.

Even though, she had ruled over the Solar System without any complaints for the past 20 years, she was beginning to get tired of leadership. Decision making and leadership were a man’s job, she brooded as she looked down on her people. They went about their mundane lives, happily ignorant of the impending threat. She wished to be like them, normal and happy.

She heard a cough from behind and turned around. Standing at the middle of her bedroom was MYRA, one of the newly appointed lady servants.
” The bath is ready, Your Majesty”, said the young girl. She kept her palms entwined, her slender arms forming a V – shape such that her hands fell beneath her navel. She had exquisite dark skin that perfectly complemented her purple eyes. She had a glass bindi on her forehead, that the president identified as the ones sold at the low rises. Even though Myra was poor, she seemed to take care of her looks. Jyoti smiled at the girl and walked to the bath. Paru, her pet Liger purred as she walked past her.
As she undressed and slid into the bathtub, Myra and the other servant Layla, rubbed soaps and other perfumes on her. Jyoti was already late for court and hence, the bath was a quick affair.
She quickly dressed and headed to the court hall, Paru in tow. Everyone was waiting for her and when she entered the hall, stood up as one, . She acknowledged a few ministers with a slight nod and made her way towards the throne. The throne was placed atop few stairs, making it higher than any other chair in the hall. As she sat on the throne, the others too followed suit.

She surveyed her court and realised every minister except her Prime Minister were present. She was irritated by this. She knew that him and her nephew Arjun were becoming alarmingly close these days.

The court began session. Amarinder Singh, the Finance Minister, called up the names of people with complaints and other requests. Complainants ranged from humanoids from the city to extra terrestrial species from across the solar system. For the next one hour, the president heard about corrupt space customs officers, rapists from Saturn and dacoits from the favelas outside the city.

After almost 5 hours, the court session ended. The last few complainants left the court. Some happy. Some sad. But whatever decision she took, sitting on that throne was final, and they all knew that.
“Any news about Moonking? “, asked Jyoti to Jonas Smith, her Minister of Defense. It had been almost 3 weeks, since she last heard from Moonking. The disaster at Mars had left her sleepless for the next few days. It was only after she heard that Moonking was not found amidst the dead, that she breathed a sigh of relief. He was alive somewhere. He had to be.

“No news yet, Your Majesty. He was last seen at the Mars Space Port leaving the planet on his spacecraft. But since then he has not landed anywhere else. His spacecraft is not docked at the Saturn Space Port. He must be somewhere in space, Your Majesty. He must land somewhere. We will find him then”, replied Jonas.

Jyoti simply nodded her head in reply. One by one, all the ministers and other officers, took leave from her and exited the court. She saw her Minister of Finance exit. He is going to fuck one of his whores no doubt, thought Jyoti acidly and smiled to herself.
Several years back, when Jyoti became the president, the court was filled with ministers proud to do their duties to the Republic. But now, 2 decades later, the ministers were all old and lusty, who just wanted to get fucked. Several of her ministers had bastard children spread throughout the city and the favela.
When her father was killed by the rebels and her brother refused the throne, it was she, Jyoti Celyn Varma, who bravely sat on the throne to become the first female President of the Republic. Back then, she had the strength to subdue or execute her critics, who were against the idea of a woman ruling them. But now, the strength was only in her mind and not in her body.

She knew that secret discussions have already begun regarding her successor. Since, the presidency was not strictly hereditary and since she never married, there was a lot of competition. Chief among them, her brother’s son Arjun Mahavir Varma. Alone, he was not a big threat. But he had ANIRUDH VALZAR ABRAHAM , the Prime Minister, as his mentor. He was one of the most intelligent brains in the entire Solar System.

But she would outwit him now, as she did 20 years back when he tried to snatch the throne from her.

Everything depended on her one last plan, that she has set in motion. Everything depended on Moonking delivering the message to her brother, DAMODAR MAHAVIR VARMA.

Chapter 6 – Secret Meetings

The alleyways kept getting crowded as he climbed down the levels. In level 17, the crowd was particularly high. He moved away from the stairs and went to find the reason. It did not take him much time. This level was filled with shops and stalls selling anything that can be sold.

Ranging from clothes to jewels, one can buy anything from here as long as you have the money. Central city had 3 levels for traders and buyers, and this one was the highest. Meaning, this one was the costliest. Only the people, whose sons and husbands had high paying jobs in the Republic can afford to buy products from this level.

He strolled through level 17 for some more time, looking at people’s faces. No two faces were alike.
The marketplace was filled with humanoids, beings from Saturn and even some from Neptune.

Arjun looked at them, with a mix of pride and contempt, knowing that they would all be his subjects very soon. He leaned on a pillar watching people scamper for sometime. He had to be at a meeting someplace else, but since it wouldn’t be very princely to be punctual, he chose to be late.

To completely circle the level and return back to the staircase that he came from would take days or even weeks. So, he took one of the stairs nearby and resumed his descent.

As he kept descending, he came very close to the Earth Space Port. Several spacecrafts were docked in the port. Some were getting ready to leave. As the space port was built over the sea, Qwaks flew on top the ships, often pooping on them and the men. The white feathered bird was a nuisance to the port workers. In the distant sea, Arjun saw a huge launchpad being cleared and in the distant space he saw a spaceship moving towards the port.

Since it was miles in the sky, Arjun couldn’t identify its sigil.
He kept climbing down.

At level 25, he met PABLO. The fool waved at him from a distance. Arjun bit his teeth and smiled at him.
“Been waiting for you a long time man”, said Pablo as Arjun continued walking. Pablo caught up to him, expecting an apology.
“Have they arrived? “, said Arjun simply.
“Yes man. They are waiting for you”
Good, thought Arjun.
“Hey Loki, do you have any money for me man?”, began Pablo. He was not aware who his friend truly was. Arjun gave him a false name when he befriended him. The fool would get a heart attack if he knew, his friend Loki was really The President’s nephew.
“I am short of charges. My boss fired me again. I did nothing wrong, you know”, blabbered Pablo.
This was usual in Pablo’s life. He was a drug addict who lived in the lower levels. He seldom contributed to the Republic. It was a miracle he was not kicked out to the favelas yet. But Arjun realised how to put him to good use. Unlike himself, Pablo was born and brought up in the lower levels of the city. He knew the place like the back of his hand. He had even been to the ghettos. He knew every lowlife ranging from dacoits to rapists, but most importantly mercenaries.

Reluctantly, Arjun let Pablo lead the way. The low levels were full of dark corners filled with people lying on the roadsides. The sewage smell was nauseating to Arjun, but Pablo felt nothing.

They turned into one of the tunnels and Arjun realised they have reached the meeting place. From within the darkest corner of the tunnel, Sayeed emerged into the fading sunlight.

Arjun conveyed his salutation, by raising both his hands to his chest and pressing his palms with each other. Since this was the customary humanoid salutation, Sayeed did the same.

“Did you find it? “, began Arjun.
The man stammered a bit, before replying
” No sir. My men are looking for it. If it is still on Mars, we would have found it by now”
“And the spy?”, persisted Arjun without cutting him any slack. He already knew the answer. But he asked eitherway.
“He escaped. That’s for sure. But we don’t know if he had the device in his hand, when he left the quarters”
“So… we won’t know anything until we find him. Right? “
” As I said before, it is possible that the device was destroyed in the explosion. My men used powerful Cryonitrate. You should have seen the place. I am sure the device is a 1000 pieces now”, replied the man, not at all sure.
Arjun easily sensed this before replying, “I don’t care what you are sure about. Either find the device or KILL THE SPY”
Pablo, who was standing far away from the two men, turned around by Arjun’s sudden outburst. But he didn’t come near to them and stayed where he was. Even Pablo has a few manners, thought Arjun.
“I need some extra money to continue the assignment”, said the man.
“How much? “
“100, 000 charges. Two of my men are dead. I need to give some to their families.”
“Okay. You will have it in your account by tonight.”

The meeting was over. They exchanged salutations again and parted ways. The man stayed somewhere in the lower levels but Arjun had to reach the Palace at the top.

The climb up is always harder than the climb down.

Chapter 7 – The Curious One

Port workers were busy clearing a landing pad for the enormous spaceship to land. On all four sides of the pad, guides were positioned holding red smoke sticks, to help the pilot land right.

Unlike other smaller spaceships, this one was huge. The spaceship was so tall that even as it neared the ground, a bird was sliced to death in one its rotors. It had the Royal sigil of the Republic of Earth embossed on its body. Spectators were lined up far away, near the boundary walls of the space port. Even they could see that this was no ordinary ship, but the personal transport of the Prime Minister of the Republic – Anirudh Abraham Isai.

Children of the lower levels scampered to get a look at the ship and its inhabitant. Rana and his friends had been playing hide and seek in the streets of level 27, when they heard the foghorn. They immediately rushed here to watch the spectacle.

It was so rare for a Royal Minister to come out in the open, that most lower level people live their entire lives without ever having looked at them. Usually, spaceships of such prominent men were docked in the higher level ports. But, today, since only the pad near to level 29 was free for landing, they could witness how the Royals really looked.

The doors to the ship came down with a whoosh. From within, in two neat files, soldiers walked out on either sides of a floating palanquin.They were all suited up in pitch black attack proof suits from top to bottom. All of them carried M56 Proton Blasters.

They were the Guardians, specially trained and sworn to protect the royal ministers with their lives. Since, there were almost a hundred Guardians surrounding the palanquin today, it was evident that The Prime Minister was within it.

It was rumored among the masses that the Prime Minister was a Neptunian. Nobody knew if there was any truth to it, but as all rumors go, the one who started it was long dead. Rana wanted to look at the face of the man who could afford to travel in such a huge spaceship. He moved away from the boundary walls and neared the gateway. The gateway was crowded with people waiting for an audience with the prime minister. It was obvious from the business suits they were wearing, that they are officers and secretaries from the higher levels. Rana’s father, who worked as a welder in the spaceport wanted his son to become an officer like them.

Rana got caught in the stampede of men, who were all taller and bigger than himself. As the palanquin made its way out of the port, Rana stood on his toes and craned his neck to get a look at the minister. The palanquin screen drifted by a sudden gust of wind, and in that tiny moment he saw the wrinkled, pinkly and inhuman face of a person. The kid had seen a lot of extra terrestrials to understand that the man in the palanquin was not a humanoid. So, the rumors were true he guessed. Having done what he wanted to do, he moved away from the crowded gateway and came back to the boundary wall. His friends were nowhere to be seen. They must have returned to level 27, to continue their games. He too decided to go back.

On hearing a sudden commotion from behind, he turned back one last time at the spaceport gateway and saw the prime minister get into a hover. As he stepped in, the prime minister looked at Rana and smiled for a brief moment. Rana’s eyes opened wide and his throat dried up in disbelief. Before he could do anything, the hover had disappeared in the crowded streets of level 29.

He rushed off towards his friends to brag to them about this, but they had already moved on to other sources of excitement. Even if he told them they wouldn’t believe him.

Chapter 8 – Neon Lights

The Prime Minister accompanied by his entourage made his way through the palace corridors to the main hall. Isai moved fast and his followers hurried to keep up with him. The tall neptunian towered over his humanoid companions. Officers coming towards them along the corridor automatically made way for the Prime Minister to pass. They obviously didn’t want to risk displeasing him.

Having arrived on Earth only that evening, he had been busy in his office clearing up accumulated office work. Recently, he had taken up the portfolios of nuclear research and atomic energy in addition to already held ones like defense and mining. He sanctioned the 3 million charges needed for rebuilding battle stations in Jupiter and delegated the sanitation revamping to the Minister of Internal Affairs. He knew the minister would not be amused on being disturbed after work hours, but as usual he didn’t care. As the work was about to be completed, he got a message from the President, summoning him to the main hall.

And so, the Prime Minister entered the main hall and moved towards the President. She was standing by the window looking over the city. Her faithful companion Parvati was lying at her feet. The neon lit city looked even more beautiful at night.

If not for his secretaries, she would never have noticed him come.

He saw her turn towards him.
“Prime Minister”, she began with a nod.
“Your Majesty. Hope I doing well are you”, began Isai in his broken Earthen language.
“I am doing fine thank you. But are you well? I did not see you in the court this morning “
“Dying were vegetations in Planet Mercury. Water sufficient was not being transported. Stranded were the aqua carriers near the asteroid belt. Issue sorted out. All is well now, Your Majesty”, replied Isai.
The booming monotone voice of the neptunian echoed across the hall.
“All is well, is it? What about the rebellion? Have you sorted it out as well? “, asked Jyoti icily. Parvati let out a low growl. The frightened PM’s secretaries took a step back. But the emotionless minister continued, “Not yet, Your Majesty. But we will soon”. He could not grasp the chillness in her voice.
“Have you seen my nephew today? “
The intelligent neptunian fumbled not quite understanding the meaning of the word ‘nephew’.
From behind him the humanoid translator came forward and whispered something to his shoulders.
He betrayed no emotion on hearing that name. It was important not to let Jyoti know what he was thinking.
“No. I haven’t seen him since yesterday”, replied the Prime Minister with a straight face.
The President studied him for a moment before turning her back on him. He understood that the meeting was over. The entourage made its way back the same way it had come.

It was midnight before Isai entered his chambers. His work was completed for the day. His bedroom was dark and the only source of light came from the neon advertisement board placed outside. It oscillated between red and purple neon lights, which flooded his bed and the walls. In that light, Isai saw a silhouette standing at a corner of his room. It was neither the silhouette of an animal nor that of an assassin. It was Arjun. The nephew.

Chapter 9 – Saturn’s wife

Dione – Moon of Saturn

Will I make it?

Nowadays Moonking often asked himself this question. When the President commanded him to man the Moon check post, he longed for an opportunity to become a real soldier. He wanted to travel through the solar system, to explore new planets. But now, when he finally got to do so he was afraid. He could still hear the explosion. If he hadn’t been awake and away from the quarters at that time, not even his bones would have survived.

When he exited the outer atmosphere of Mars, he decided not to reach Titan immediately. Even though his heart felt like it would bust out in excitement, his mind worked well. He understood that he was being followed. Someone didn’t want him to complete his mission. And so he decided to land in a safe place.
Anyone who had to reach Europa, had to arrive at Titan. The Titan Spaceport was the only one that had the ships to reach Europa. If he knew that, then his enemies would know it to.

He chose Dione as his immediate destination. Since Dione was well hidden from the radio waves of Earth and just below the Rings of Saturn, it was mostly ignored by the Republic. The planet was a dumping ground of used electronic parts.

He descended into the atmosphere of the garbage moon, and true to its name there were mountains of wasted parts as far as his eyes could see. Moonking parked his spacecraft in a small clearing and stepped out. He removed his helmet and a gust of wind blew at his face. His messy long hair flew back.

The air was thick with the smell of broken plastic. It was early dawn on Dione. The distant sun has just risen. Up in the sky, Saturn was visible in all its glory.

A day lasts for 15 earth days on this planet. Titan will be at a closer distance to Dione, only when the sun sets.

It had been 3 earth days since Moonking landed on Dione. On the first day, he kept himself busy by erecting a makeshift tent for himself. The president had equipped him with every necessary tool required for his travel. She had also told him to inform her whenever possible, but he had decided not to. If the enemies can find out where he stayed on Mars, it meant they have spies within The president’s circle.

It had been several hours since he last slept and Moonking was feeling drowsy. He fell into the tent and slept through most part of the second day. As he woke up, the sun was still shining bright. He decided to explore the moon for the next few days. He covered his spacecraft with a tarpaulin and made his way through the cleared walkway between the garbage hills. Even though Dione was deserted, he was careful in his steps. Moonking knew that desolated moons like Dione are known to be rendezvous points for space pirates. He had no wish to cross paths with them. Mercenaries were enough.

He began walking towards the north. Because of the moon’s low intense gravity, Moonking did not feel fatigue until the early hours of the fourth day.He was now kilometers away from his parked vehicle. Moonking did not worry about losing his spacecraft. He had his gps system to find his way back.

Suddenly he felt uneasy. Something was wrong here. When he was a boy in the lower levels of Vertex city, it was his intuition that saved him from many dangers. He knew well enough not to ignore his gut feeling. He stopped in his tracks and surveyed his surroundings. From behind a hill, he heard some metallic object roll over. The clang of metal echoed across the planet. He cursed himself for not holding on to the nameless soldier’s gun. Like a fool he dropped it.

Thick Mist surrounded him. To his front, from within the mist emerged four huge figures. Pirates. He recognized immediately.

Unlike soldiers who wore spacesuits, the pirates wore little to no suit. Infact, one of them was bare bodied and his right arm was a pulse ray canon. Moonking turned back to make a run to his spacecraft. But his way was blocked by 3 other pirates.
Before he could realise what was happening, he heard the loading sound of the Agony Pulse Ray. He turned towards the sound, but he could only see a blinding ray of brightness.

Will I make it?