Re: A (Hopefully) Much Better Prologue for Frontier Zone. Alliance, Empire, and Hegem
Frontier Zone. Alliance, Empire, or Hegemony?
By Stuart L. Sexton
frontierzone@verizon.net
Frontier Zone. Alliance, Empire, or Hegemony?
All characters are fictional, and any resemblance to real persons, either living, dead, Human, Yajeebian, Chun, Shardon, Mordum, or any other life form, are strictly coincidental.
Dedicated to God, The Blessed Virgin Mary, Amy, and to my mom.
Special thanks to all who have helped to proofread this work, including Erica Smith, Rick Dahm, and those at the Chronicles Network.
© 2008-2009 Stuart L. Sexton, all rights reserved.
Prologue.
A tall, gaunt, ashen skinned male humanoid, with thin stringy black hair and glowing red eyes, stood in the center of a circular chamber, surrounded by similar creatures of both sexes, seated at computer work stations of some sort. Each one of these creatures (including the one standing) was wearing a hooded purple robe with blood red writing on the cuffs of his or her sleeves.
The walls of the chamber were the same shade of purple as their robes, and also sported blood red writing. On one wall of the chamber there was a large Holo-Vid screen, with the view of a large nebula taking up most of it. The nebula seemed to grow in size with the passing of each second. The one standing in the center of the chamber was facing the Holo-Vid screen, with his thin dark grey lips quirked up in a smirk.
He then turned toward the female at his two o’clock position, and said, “*Captain Zilnik.
Any sign of enemy space vehicles?”
# Mordum ranks are as follows. Enlisted: Batzik (Private), Naksta (Corporal), and Antrenaksta (Sergeant). Officers: Hepitin (Captain), Opurhepitin (Colonel), Gruzzurhepitin (General), and Vialtz Gruzzurhepitin (Field Marshal).
Her reply was clipped. “No, sir! General, sir!”
“Continue scanning,” said the General.
He seemed to stare at her for longer than should be necessary. As he did so, his eyes glowed all the brighter, and his smirk grew into a lecherous grin.
The General then turned his attention to the male two stations to Captain Zilnik’s right.
“Captain Volkron. Send a report of our progress to Field Marshal Krentz at Base three hundred and eighty one.”
“Sir, yes sir!” the male replied.
Captain Zilnik then addressed the General. “Sir! I have detected an enemy space vehicle. It is what the Humans call a ‘
Ticonderoga Class Cruiser’, sir!”
“Are they keeping to their side of the border, Captain?” asked the General.
“Yes, sir,” replied the Captain. “They are patrolling and scanning the border, one point six six **Astronomical Units inside their space, sir.”
# Measured by Mordum, not Human standards. A Mordum AU is roughly six light-minutes distance, since Mordus II is a lot closer to Mordus Prime than Earth is to Sol.
The General scowled, and then he addressed the female seated at the computer work station facing the Holo-Vid screen.
“Sergeant Markal. Fly us to one AU's distance from the border between our Hegemony and United Systems Alliance space. Maximum speed till we reach our destination, then slow to match the enemy‘s speed. Once we‘re there, we will mirror their patrol pattern.”
“Sir, yes sir!” came the reply.
The view on the Holo-Vid screen shifted, as the nebula seemed to move to the right of the screen, before going completely out of the frame. The scene ahead changed to that of a star field in motion.
Suddenly, the star field went from points of light, seeming to draw nearer to them, to streaks of light, shifting to blue upon approach. They were at their new patrol destination within five minutes, having traveled there at the speed of thirty light-years per day.
Once they began their parallel patrol with the enemy, the General addressed his staff. “Everyone, put up your hoods, I am going to place a visual call to the Commanding Officer of that space vehicle, and I don’t want any of my staff to risk being seen by them.
“The well being of your souls is
my responsibility, and the Chancellor would banish
me along with anyone from my staff whose soul was corrupted while serving under me.”
Hoods went up, and the General then nodded to Captain Volkron. “Send the signal,
Captain.”
“Sir, yes sir!” came the reply.
The General looked straight at the Holo-Vid screen. “Greetings, United Systems Alliance space vehicle. This is General Malkantz, of the Mordum Hegemony Command Space Vehicle Number one thousand two hundred and fifty-seven. I demand to speak to your Commanding Officer.”
A large bear of a man, with curly brown hair, and deep brown eyes, appeared on the screen. “This is Captain Jacob Amstutz, Commanding Officer of the
USS Ticonderoga. With all due respect, General, I think the word ‘demand’ is a bit inappropriate, since both of our ships are keeping within the latest stipulations of the Armistice. Neither you or we have crossed the established border. We, like you, are simply on patrol.”
“Hmph!” snorted General Malkantz. “Who are
you, a mere Captain, to remind a General of these things?”
“You forget,
General,” came Captain Amstutz’s retort, “that the United Systems Alliance military not only has three more branches of service than the Mordum Hegemony, but we also have a different ranking system than yours. Technically, if we were to compare our ranks, in our Navy, a Captain would outrank one of your Field Marshals, let alone a
mere General.”
“WHAT?!” shouted the General, incredulously.
“However,” continued Captain Amstutz, unfazed by the General’s fit of ill temper. “Since you and I both command vessels that are classified by our Navy as ‘cruisers’, that makes us both ‘cruiser skippers’, and thus, equals in rank.”
“BAH!” shouted General Malkantz. “You are a Human! You hardly qualify as my ‘equal’ in anything!”
Captain Amstutz sighed. “General. Did you have a valid point for hailing me, or did you simply call me to bluster and huff?”
The General let out a sort of snorting laughter. “Very well, Captain Amstutz. Are you sure you are not at least
part Mordum? You certainly have the kletchblins to be. I was simply wishing to let you know that we are here, and that we are watching you. Keep to your side, Captain, and there will be no trouble.”
The Captain gave a ****-eating grin. “The same to you, General. Amstutz out.”
“Malkantz out,” said the General. At that, the transmission ended.
******************************************
Seated behind the desk of her sea cabin, listening to a recording of the exchange between General Malkantz and Captain Amstutz, was a very attractive female cat-like biped, with tan fur, and wearing a long sleeved black wrap-around tunic over a white blouse with a high, stiff collar, and a white, gold trimmed mortarboard on either shoulder, denoting her rank, (symbolized by a gold curved sword rank pin).
Completing her uniform was a pair of white trousers with one inch thick black piping down the sides (and a specially made hole for her tail to poke through) tucked into immaculately polished patent leather knee-high jackboots. On her hands she wore white gloves, which went up to her wrists. Over her left breast was an impressive display of ribbons. Her white weapons belt, which had both her side arm and her curved ceremonial sword, hung from a peg on the wall to her right.
When she heard Captain Amstutz’s retort to General Malkantz’s erroneous statement regarding their respective ranks, she gave out a hissing laugh.
Once the recording had finished playing, she turned off the player, got up from her chair, and put on her weapons belt.
She then went over to the intercom mounted on the wall by her sea cabin door, and touched the key pad.
“Lieutenant Shing’fong, this is Commander To’ying’li. I am on my way to the Command Deck. Li out.”
“Yes, Commander,” came the reply. “Fong out.”
With that, Commander Li exited her sea cabin, and headed toward the Command Deck.
******************************************
Once the transmission had ended, Captain Amstutz shuddered, and addressed the tall and imposing Native American man standing at his right.
“They always give me the creeps, John. It’s the red eyes glowing out from under those dark purple robes that gets me.”
The other man laughed. “Yes, Jacob, I know. They remind me of the wraiths in your fantasy role-playing game.
Spooky.”
“Yes,” laughed Jacob. “They do at that. Speaking of which, I’m getting a game going after this duty shift. Helluva dungeon, too, if I might say so. You in?”
It was John’s turn for a ****-eating grin. “Wouldn’t miss it for the galaxy, Jacob. Right now, though, I have my rounds to make.”
Jacob nodded. “Right, John. I’m keeping us at yellow alert until we reach that area of unclaimed space. Once you’ve made your rounds, head on down and take over in Auxiliary Command Deck.”
“Affirmative, Captain,” said the Exec, matter-of-factly.
but the taste and the effect is so good!!!
