chapter 3 – War of the galaxy

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 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 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.