Story: The League Must Fight

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An Urrun League story.

The League Must Fight

In the crystal spires of the Urrun League spacefortress Forward to Eden, a small group of councillors spoke in hushed whispers outside the senate chamber. They all seemed at least agitated, though the Acata representative was sobbing gently.

The great door was ten metrons tall and formed from thousands of sapphires. Light reached through from the other side, scattered and dancing across the faces of the waiting delegates. They could hear the gentle mumble of the debating senators inside.

“Quabra?”

The Lahi looked up at hearing his name. “Yeah?”

“What do you think they’ll say?”

Quabra sighed. “I can’t say. I hope they’ll send a fleet or deploy a fortress, but they might do nothing at all. We’re not known for helping out lesser species, Ath.”

Athur, the Massar, looked at the polished floor for a few moments. “But this isn’t just about the lesser species. If we’re right, this is a direct threat to the League.”

“We are right. But what matters is if they manage to recognise that.”

The Acata, Yama, twitched. “They’re so arrogant and stupid. They fail to see the danger staring us right in the...”

She was cut off as the door opened. Two Hane looked them up and down, then stepped back to let them through.

The speaker of the house, a white Sarai, marked their entrance with the flick of a switch. A carryplate rose up underneath them, lifting them up into the centre of the chamber, with the galleries and their seats all around. They took a moment to take in the rows of quartz seats and the hundreds of senators upon them, of all the Urrun species. There were Statronus all around too, working away in the ceiling and behind the seats. After spending some time around the Sarai, you began to cease noticing their ever-present assistants.

“The guests are to speak to the house on the matter of the Sakul extinction.”

The three councillors bowed and then stood up again. “We bring bad news.” Began Athur. “A threat not only to the lesser species but also to the League has been encountered.” A voice shouted out from the galleries. “That’s what they said about the Hane, and look where we are now!”

A large number of the senators began muttering and nodding in agreement, or whatever the various species did to show their approval.

“This is very, very different.” Qabra inserted a holopen into the carryplate. The projector activated, and a 3D image formed in the air in front of them. Numbers and icons appeared around it, pointing out notable features and showing the various scales.

This was a spacecraft. It was 20km long and pitch black in colour, with blade-like fins and many spiked protrusions sticking out haphazardly from its sides. They watched as it neared a planet, firing missiles that destroyed whole Sakul fleets, shrugging off a mass barrage of nuclear devices without a scratch, and then fired a beam that caused the world to explode in a burst of plasma.

The galleries were quiet for a moment. The speaker plucked up the courage to ask a question. “And... this is coming for us?”

Yama nodded.

“Moving that we declare a state of war. Prepare to destroy this... abomination. Mobilise the fleets. All in favour?”

Every voice said ‘aye’.

See Also