They Answered The Call

Ominian System

Automated Border Outpost 1D-25

1,893 light years from Earth, 2175 A.D.

“It now begins.”

Ray looked at the Ma’lit, feeling a chill run down his spine at the ominous nature of the statement, before returning his gaze to the far wall of the chamber.

On the holoscreen, he saw four Ma’lit dreadnoughts shimmer into existence. They had a length of twelve kilometers, a beam of five kilometers at their widest points, and were two kilometers in height. They had an elongated diamond shape, and their hulls were a silver metallic color that scintillated, looking like massive gems in the darkness of space.

The four dreadnoughts each appeared at the same distance from the star, and they were positioned directly in the center of the four quadrants of the solar system, effectively controlling all four sections. On the screen, he saw all four of them flash a blinding pulse simultaneously.

“What was that?” he asked the Ma’lit, his eyes glued to the sensor readings that tracked the invisible waves as they propagated through the system at the speed of light like ripples on a still pond. The Ma’lit responded, pointing to the screen as he answered.

“Those are null field dampeners. They will prevent any ships from activating their null drives and fleeing the system for the next solar day, except for our vessels. Any ships hiding in null space will also be affected by them and will be pulled out into real space, sometimes catastrophically. That is why I had you order the rebel fleet to exit.”

Ray nodded silently, astounded by the revelation of the technology. The Republic needs to know about this and figure out a countermeasure, he thought to himself as he continued to act like what he was just told was not the major intelligence coup it was, wondering if the Ma’lit slipped up by telling him or just didn’t care that he now knew.

He watched as all four of them activated their shields, seeing them shimmer and undulate along the hulls as the emitters joined all their individual sections to form a whole before becoming invisible. The smooth, unbroken lines of the hulls started changing as openings and constructs appeared, and the emerging weapons systems now gave the beautiful ships a dangerous aura.

The holo screen flared brightly as all four dreadnoughts opened fire, their particle accelerators finding and destroying any fusion missiles and nuclear mines hiding nearby as they winked out. The range of the Ma’it particle weapons was tremendous, at least three times the distance of the war beams of the Republic nullships.

Once they cleared the local space around them, they accelerated, and two of the dreadnoughts headed for the boundary of the inner system towards the remaining forts. The other two circled the star in a patrol pattern that would clear the outer system as their hundreds of beams continued to find and destroy missiles and mines.

The dreadnoughts in the outer system were moving at incredible velocities, their reactionless drives propelling them to 20% the speed of light as they continued to clear out the space around them. The two other dreadnoughts flashed into null space before flashing out again outside of the perimeters of the forts.

The forts fired at them, and he saw the impacts of their powerful particle beams splash harmlessly against the force fields as the Ma’lit vessels returned fire, easily destroying the massive stations with just a few shots as they continued along their courses, heading towards the others that still remained.

The Ominians had been sending frantic messages to the Ma’lit ever since they appeared, and the Ma’lit did not respond once as they continued to destroy the military infrastructure in the system. An hour passed, and the entire outer system's defenses and minefields had been cleared by the two dreadnoughts.

After they had done that, large openings appeared on both dreadnoughts, and three dozen smaller Ma’lit ships the size of Republic corvettes emerged from them and swarmed out, headed towards the outer planets and any non-military or civilian infrastructure still present.

The smaller Ma’lit ships destroyed every single outpost, station, and orbital networks that still remained, as well as any ground structures on the outer planets.

Ray heard the pleas of the Ominians that were on those structures and planets, begging for mercy, before becoming silent as the Ma’lit ships fired on them without hesitation.

The Ma'lit script on the holo screen kept changing as their vessels continued to destroy everything, and he saw the number of Ominian dead, already in the millions, rapidly rising.

Hearing the pleas of the Ominian civilians as millions of them died begging for mercy turned his fury into sadness, and he turned away from the holo screen, feeling ill at what he was watching. The Ma’lit noticed his discomfort and turned to face him.

“My human child, it gladdens me to see that your desire for vengeance and punishment has turned to anguish and despair. This is not easy for us to do, and we will carry the burden of what we do here for the rest of our existence. This is a lesson that must be taught, and we must be the ones to teach it.”

Ray nodded and forced himself to turn back towards the holo screen. The two dreadnoughts and their smaller vessels flashed into null space, leaving behind a smoldering graveyard devoid of life in the outer system.

They exited null space just inside the boundary of the inner system and proceeded to find and destroy every single piece of non-military infrastructure they came across that was bypassed by their sister ships.

Orbital stations, research labs, mining depots, and habitats filled with hundreds of thousands of souls disappeared as particle accelerators erased them from existence.

The other two dreadnoughts that were already there had cleared all the military infrastructure and defenses before moving on. They were currently bombarding and scouring the fourth planet, destroying the domed cities on the surface that hundreds of millions of Ominians had called home for generations.

In desperation, the Ominians fired all their last remaining fusion missiles at the dreadnoughts, and the abominations were hunted down and destroyed by the dozens of Ma’lit corvettes as they screened their motherships.

Force fields flared brightly as they absorbed the radiation of the fusion missiles, deflecting the deady rays from the ships. Seeing that the missiles were destroyed, the Ominian AI suicide boats were activated, and they swarmed towards the four dreadnoughts.

The holo screen was dimmed to compensate for the miniature suns that were created as hundreds of the suicide boats were destroyed by particle accelerators and antimatter torpedoes from long range.

There were almost two thousand suicide boats, and hundreds of them made it through the Ma’lit long-range weaponry, burning their engines and executing evasive maneuvers well beyond the normal thresholds. There were no fragile biological lifeforms for the AIs to worry about smearing against the bulkheads, and they continued on, expertly dodging the weaponry that was firing at them.

The Ma’lit ships activated their secondary weapons systems, and the space around them became a maelstrom of destructive energy as particle beam turrets, antimatter torpedoes, and gravimetric charges were fired, destroying dozens of suicide boats.

Three of the AI ships made it through the defenses and were less than three seconds from impacting a dreadnought when a Ma’lit corvette intercepted them and self-destructed in their path. The corvette overload was tremendous, and it took the three ships with it as their own cores, already in a state of barely controlled overloads, went off.

The sheer magnitude of the explosions took out another two dozen AI ships, as well as five other corvettes that were in proximity, triggering a deadly chain reaction that hit the port side force fields of the targeted dreadnought with an almost incalculable amount of energy.

The force fields intercepted the energy, flaring brightly before they turned a deep, dark red. They finally collapsed as the emitters burned out, and Ray could see the armored hull of the dreadnought boil under the onslaught of the destructive energy before it turned into slag and collapsed inward.

The port side of the dreadnought suffered from dozens of hull breaches that shot out frozen fluids as the massive vessel bled from its wounds. Lights throughout the ship flickered, and it stopped firing on the planet below before suddenly flashing into null space.

Ray stared in shock, not believing that a Ma’lit dreadnought could be harmed, let alone enough to cause it to retreat. He turned to look at the Ma’lit standing next to him.

“Honored Elder, I grieve for the lives lost on those ships.”

The Ma’lit turned towards him. “No lives were lost. Our ships have no biologicals on them. Your grief is not necessary, though appreciated.”

Ray stared at the Ma’lit beside him. That would explain the lack of explosions or decompressions, but hearing that those massive ships were uncrewed by the Ma’lit disturbed him.

He fervently hoped those ships had kill-switches like the Republic nullships did. One of those dreadnoughts could decimate the entire quadrant if it went rogue.

“I am glad to hear that there were no honored elders on those vessels.”

He turned back towards the holo screen and the carnage it displayed, seeing that the rest of the suicide boats had been destroyed. Another dreadnought had lost several field sections and was moderately damaged but still fully functional.

Three additional Ma’lit corvettes had been destroyed; they self-destructed to take out the last remaining groupings of the AI suicide boats as they tried to ram the dreadnoughts.

They finished bombarding the fourth planet, and the three remaining dreadnoughts turned ominously towards the second planet, the Ominian Homeworld. The thirty-two surviving corvettes accelerated ahead of their motherships and surged towards the third planet to take out the shipyard and the rest of the orbital infrastructure above the planet, as well as the few structures that were on it.

The dreadnoughts accelerated, and within a few minutes they entered the orbital space of Ominia. The three ships orbited the planet, and within thirty minutes, they destroyed the last remaining shipyard, sixteen forts, two space elevators, and every other large structure orbiting the planet.

The Ma’lit ships ignored the two hundred plus strong fleet that was parked above the northern pole of the planet, the dampening wave already having reached them and inhibiting their null drives.

The commanding officer of the fleet had sent a message declaring their surrender some time ago, and their weapons and fusion cores had already been powered down by the time the Ma’lit ships reached orbit.

The Ominian government had been issuing broadcasts of unconditional surrender non-stop, and the Ma’lit continued to ignore them as they ominously directed all their weaponry to the planet below.

The Ma’lit corvettes, which finished taking out targets on the third planet, now joined their motherships in orbit. They assumed positions that covered the entire surface of the planet before firing on the thousands of satellites surrounding it and blinding the Ominians on the surface as the satellite network was destroyed.

Ray asked the Ma’lit for permission to sit, his legs and feet hurting from standing for so long on the hard granite tiles. He was also afraid that he was going to collapse and embarrass himself, as his legs trembled slightly from the emotional turmoil he had undergone for the last few hours.

A perfectly sized seat emerged from the ground behind him, and he lowered himself into it gratefully, thanking the Ma’lit as the seat shifted to conform to him. The android appeared out of nowhere, scaring him as it offered him a tray with water on it.

He took the water, glaring at the android, before greedily emptying the glass container and spilling water down his chin. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and resumed looking at the holo screen, waiting to see what the Ma’lit would do next.

He did not have to wait long at all. At the same time, every dreadnought and corvette fired on the surface, their invisible beams now observable as they entered the atmosphere and ionized the air with their passage.

Thousands of land-based missiles were fired at the ships, and they were all shot down before reaching orbit. The Ominians activated their antiquated planetary defense laser batteries, and they were systematically destroyed as the Ma’lit ships detected their power signatures, the few successful laser strikes splashing harmlessly against their force fields.

The Ma’lit ships attacked and destroyed every single military target on the planet over the next hour, destroying the planet’s ability to ever be a threat again.

They then targeted power generation and communication systems, plunging the nighttime side of the planet into darkness and leaving the entire planet without power or communication networks. The billions of frantic messages among the populace were suddenly silenced, and Ray could barely imagine the terror they must now be feeling.

Planet-wide industrial, distribution, and transport infrastructure were destroyed. The Ma’lit also detonated devices in the atmosphere that sent out EMP pulses that covered the entire planet, causing almost half a million aircraft and shuttles to fall to the ground after they lost power.

Tens of thousands of missiles were fired by the Ma’lit ships, and they descended into the atmosphere, hunting down and sinking military, civilian, and cargo transport ships to the bottom of the oceans.

After four hours of this relentless assault, the entire technological base of Ominia was destroyed, regressing them back to a pre-industrial state.

The Ma’lit turned to Ray. “We are entering null space and will re-emerge in orbit. Please inject this to mitigate the effects of our drives.” It held out a suit hand, offering a small sub-dermal injector. He took it and pressed the injector against his neck, feeling a warm sensation that spread from the site.

A few moments later, he felt a slight disjointedness as they entered null space, and the holo screen changed to show the shimmering, gray void of null space as the station moved through it.

A few seconds later, he felt pressure behind his eyes, and a sharp stabbing pain exploded in his head, making him fall to his knees. He grabbed at the sides of his head, screaming in agony.

He felt another momentary jerk, and in moments the pressure and pain receded, leaving him gasping as the memory of what he just experienced lingered.

“Human, my apologies for the discomfort. Now you understand why we drugged you for the travel here?” Ray nodded, grateful that they gassed him. He never wanted to experience that again for as long as he lived. He stood up shakily and looked at the holo screen, seeing that they were now in orbit above the planet.

“What happens now?” he asked, looking at the wounded planet below and seeing the scars of the strikes, tens of thousands of locations still burning and sending massive plumes of smoke into the atmosphere. His ocular implant translated the Ma’lit script on the side, showing the total estimated death toll of the entire system.

627 million deaths.

Ray was hit with a sudden wave of nausea as he processed the number. He vomited on the black tiles as the full import of the punishment hit him, and he fell to the ground again on all fours, hyperventilating.

He looked up at the Ma’lit standing beside him, seeing it in a new light. For the first time, he was truly terrified of them and their abilities. The Ma’lit suit sensors focused on his face, and it turned towards him, offering a suit hand to help him up as it started speaking.

“The Ominians will not leave this planet. This outpost will now stay in the orbit of the planet to ensure that the Ominians remain on the surface for the next ten generations. They will not rebuild what we have destroyed. They will not engage in interstellar commerce, nor will they have any contact with outside species. They are now exiles; let this be a lesson to all.”

Ray stared at the Ma’lit, finally understanding the true scope of the punishment. The Ominians will revert to a preindustrial society, and they will experience the loss of their exalted position in the Commonwealth and the quadrant.

All that they have done for hundreds of years to secure their position as the preeminent species in the Commonwealth has been taken from them. They are now exiles, and they will suffer ignominiously for ten generations. He could not think of a worse thing to do to the arrogant Ominians; only extermination would be a crueler fate than the one they would now experience.

The Ma’lit pointed to the holo screen, and he saw that a small construct that had been released by the Ma’lit in orbit had entered the Palace of the Director. It smashed through the walls and shrugged off attempts by the palace defenders to shoot it down, its shields flickering as it returned fire, sending small bolts of plasma towards its attacks that left gaping holes in their torsos.

After a dozen defenders died, they ceased their attacks and fled the grounds, and the construct continued penetrating the palace, heading directly towards the director’s chambers.

A minute later, the holo screen changed and showed the inside of the chambers that it had entered after blasting down the solid alloy door that futilely tried to bar its progress.

The Ominian director, the leader of both their government and the former Commonwealth government, was on the screen. The Ominian’s normally violet skin was a pale pink, and it had a haggard and defeated expression.

The Ma’lit spoke in Ominian, its synthesized voice expertly vocalizing the melodious language. Ray’s translator performed its function, and he heard the words translated into Republic standard.

“You have violated the Treaty of Sirius, and you have shown that you are an evil people, consumed with power and greed. You and your descendants will know ten generations of want and privation, and you will suffer the indignity of going from master to servant.”

The director started speaking, and Ray winced involuntarily as he saw an electrical charge shoot out from the construct on the floor and envelop the director. The energy charge caused it to scream and convulse as it fell to the floor and started foaming at the mouth, before the electrical pulse abruptly ended.

The Ma’lit continued to speak as if nothing happened.

“You will be silent. You will not rebuild any infrastructure. You will not restore power. You will refrain from using any technological devices that may remain or attempt to build any. You will know the toil and suffering of your ancestors. You will be at the mercy of the elements, and you will devolve into a subsistence society. Perhaps your descendants will emerge as a better species for it.”

The director was still on the floor, looking at the construct with glassy eyes as it listened to the Ma’lit in silence. Struggling to sit upright, the director feebly pushed itself up and breathed heavily before silently bowing its head in acquiescence to the Ma’lit demands.

Seeing the bow, the Ma’lit raised both suit hands in a palm-out gesture towards the holo screen and the Ominian Director.

“Judgement has been rendered.”

The holo screen disappeared, and the wall it was on returned to its glossy black surface. The Ma’lit exosuit turned and left the chamber without saying a word to Ray, who remained seated in his chair, staring at the wall that had shown him an entire species being brought low from their once lofty position.

CWS Ancestor's Glory-Flagship of the Commonwealth Liberation Navy

Commodore Therax and the rest of his bridge crew watched the video that was being broadcasted by the Ma’lit automated outpost in orbit of the Ominia, listening to the Ma’lit sentence the Ominian species to ten generations of exile.

The video ended, and the view screen returned to displaying the sensor information that was on it before as the battle AI listed and categorized the damage inflicted by the Ma’lit ships. All traces of Ominian presence throughout the system were destroyed, and for the first time in almost seven hundred years, the solar system was almost completely silent.

Save for the over two hundred Commonwealth ships trapped in polar orbit, there were no signals, emissions, or bursts of radiation that signified the presence of an advanced society. The near silence was profound, and it was mirrored on his bridge as the true extent of the Ma’lit actions became evident.

Therax got off his chair and exited the bridge, pressing the lift icon to take him to deck three. He exited the lift when it arrived and quickly walked to the aft section of the ship, where the ancestral shrine was located. He entered a booth and closed the door behind him before lighting the single candle in the center of the room on the floor.

There was nothing else in the booth, and he kneeled before the small flame as it flickered, casting shadows on the dim walls. He bowed his head and began to pray.

Honored ancestors, thank you for saving my soul. My desire for retribution blinded me to the fact that I would have become the very thing I was fighting against.

I should have known better.

Mei Zhou, I almost failed you. Please forgive me for the dishonor I was willing to bring upon your name and the names of those who died with you for a selfish moment of vengeance.

Instead of wishing you were here and asking your spirit for your advice, I should have been emulating you. This is the last time I forget the example you and your crew set for us in the Jaleeni system.

I am Nekuli, and I thought my species knew what honor was. I now realize that somewhere along the way, we forgot the meaning of the word. We were so focused on trying to maintain what little we had managed to preserve under an honorless government that we forgot the truth about it.

You showed us the way, and I cannot believe how close I came to forgetting. I am so ashamed, and if I did what I wanted in my moment of weakness, I know that you would not have been there to welcome me with open arms when my time to join you came.

You would have turned your back on me and declared to the ancestors, “I do not know him. He is not one of us.”

My venerated ancestors would have heard you, and I would have been cast back into the river, my soul forever lost as I drifted to the sea of wickedness to join the ranks of the unworthy.

I do not know if you somehow interceded to save my soul and the lives of my crew by bringing the Ma’lit. I do know that I will never besmirch my honor because of the actions of others again.

For the rest of my days, I will remember you and your way, and I shall never again stray from the path you have laid for me.

Thank you, my friend.

Therax leaned over the candle in front of him and gently blew it out. He stood back up and headed towards the booth door, sure of his footing in the dark as his photoreceptors compensated for the lack of light.

He headed back towards the lift that would take him back to the bridge. Along the way, he passed several crew members, and he saw the change in their faces and bearings. They were full of newfound hope, spared from undertaking a genocidal act that would have dishonored them for the rest of their lives.

He entered the lift and pressed the icon to take him back to the bridge. He felt the burden of all the death, loss, and suffering they had gone through lifting off of him, and for the first time in over a solar year, he smiled, baring all his fangs in true happiness.