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Here's the draft of a story I wrote about AXIS, a hypothetical faction I created. You can find more about it in the Second Ship thread on AC-Creation.
Scourging of Planet: The Gaian-AXIS War or,
An Apocalyptic and Epic Saga Condensed into a Very Short Story
“We have reviewed your terms… and we agree,” said the General.
“Good,” said the Prophet. “War forges strange allegiances. So long as the unclean dwell upon Planet, she will always be at war. We will not forget this, Patrick Donovan Gray.”
The viewscreen switched off.
The General grit his teeth. It was done.
He had just sworn peace with his second greatest enemy.
And now they would destroy his first.
***
General Patrick Donovan Gray was the leader of the Anti-Xenos Initiative Society, principle offshoot of the Spartan Federation. He was not a happy man. Like so many who had lost loved ones to the natural menaces of Planet, he could never be happy again. But he had long bit back memories of his wife and sons caught at Shield Hall, in the attack by the largest of mindworm boils in a century. Whenever such thoughts came up, he stoically channeled them for his effort.
His effort. His purpose. His life.
To purify Chiron and to serve humanity.
That was never in the AXIS Manifesto. He never had to say it. It was the unwritten code that all Xenophobes lived and died for- to exterminate the mindworms, to raze the fungus, to fight the alien, to oppose the empath, to kill the Voice of Planet.
And now he had pledged allegiance to him.
War did indeed forge strange allegiances.
***
The General inspected the blank halls of the Fusion Lab. Technicians scurried about, showing progress and looking busy. So far there was not much completed. The planet buster he had lifted from the armory of Sparta Freehold had already served its immediate purpose, four mission years ago, at the destruction of the Cult of Planet’s second largest military base. Unfortunately, the meager amount of scientists he had managed to recruit and bring to the cause of AXIS did not include those who were familiar with the missile project, and its technologies were never unlocked and backwards-engineered.
No matter. High Energy Chemistry was the road to progress. The General was impressed by the progress thus far, given the circumstances. Conflict with other factions was endless, whether it was from Mother Sparta, Hated Cult, or now the death-marked Nemesis Gaia.
He paused by a screen displaying a massive map of Planet. The Cult of Planet’s strength was increasing ever since their first blood truce four years ago. AXIS was incapable of decimating them. Gaia was as rich and fat as always, friend to the Morganite plutocrats and the damnable Planet. They now threatened the Prophet Cha Dawn’s hegemony over Chiron’s nature.
Probe teams and bought information from the University had proven this. Planet was no Gaia of Earth. She may have been a more cohesive, more powerful-seeming force, but she was by no means sentient. The god of Chiron was not one, but some sort of psichiempathic phenomenon vulnerable to those with skills in psi. Presently, Gaia and the Cult had dominion over great sections of this blind idiot god. Cha Dawn’s reckless industrialization and mining of it has hurt his influence. The rise of the Psions threatened his psichic control.
The Cult had no friends. Neither did their enemy among enemies, the Society. Somehow, the Cultist advisors of the boy-king had convinced him that this would be a good idea.
The General had no need for advisors. He was paranoid enough. The Cult had approached him because they both had the same enemy: the Gaians. Enemy of my enemy. It was that simple. Cha Dawn had even offered him a continual alliance, to use and topple each petty kingdom and dukedom of the Planet, one by one, until-
He had not finished. The General understood fully. War between the two was inevitable, and it was foolish for the Prophet to suggest otherwise. The Cult of Planet had no use for any of humanity that did not bow down to him. Gray was no megalomaniac, either. He did not want to rule any other faction, even if they were inept, foolish, villainous, greedy, self-absorbed, deluded, weak, or stupid. He accepted them as humanity, even it they did not accept him nor his crusade.
Yet.
***
“Sir, I must implore you, this tech will completely….”
“Enslave us to the machine! No, I cannot allow it. Authorizing the development of sentient computing was risky enough. To attach our bodies and minds to them will by our deaths.”
“But Mind/Machine Interface could revolutionize warfare!” protested the engineer.
“And create a revolt of the nonhuman. You are dismissed.”
The young man, a former prodigy of the University, left. He decided not to make the General repeat himself.
Gray, sat back and sighed sadly. He knew that the boy was wasting an opportunity here. But he also knew that he was clearing his conscience. Better lock up the homunculi before it rises up and destroys everything. There are better ways to fight monsters without becoming one yourself.
The reports were grim. Needlejets from Morgan Industries had destroyed a convoy to the Third Army. The siege of Green Garden was taking a long time, though the base was small. A probe attack at a Central Thought Tank station had failed to gleam any new information about the scourge.
But hope was not yet gone. His faction had seen victories before, and they were vivid in his dreams.
***
“I suggest you use this time to prepare to meet your Gaia,” he spoke surely, gaze piercing.
Tabernacle of Thorns burst into flames. Great square kilometers were obliterated, farming lands burned, the entire river basin reshaped, rolling hills flattened.
All Gray could see was the eyes of the Cult high priestess widen in fear, unbelieving, a nanosecond before her unbecoming.
Five thousand Cultists dead, four major boils destroyed, diabolical abominations sent back to the Pit in a holocaust of semi-holy fire.
Revenge was honeyed.
***
“The Security Council of Planet has now gone into voting bloc. No messages are to be passed. All doors are locked. There is to be no talking,” intoned the arbiter, a Peacekeeper.
The General looked to his fellow faction leaders. The siege on U.N. Headquarters had been temporarily lifted for pressing business. No peacemaking, of course. Just some reshuffling of global affairs to incite more conflict.
“The vote is for the repealing of the Earth-era U.N. Charter. All in favor?”
The General pushed his button. Nearly unanimous. He hadn’t even have to bribe any others. All over Planet, battles had been lost, and Drones everywhere were revolting. Unrest and obfuscation was suspected to be caused by probe attacks by the three securest factions at peace- Data Angels, Psions, and the Elders of Chiron. Like retirees and scalawags, they were content with simple alliance with each other and unspoken vendetta with everyone else. Nerve stapling was needed, and- if the three factions were ever caught- there would be some obliterating.
Lal himself had gone against his creed and purpose. He was resolute in his vote for the repealing. The war with the Magistrates was going badly, and if nerve pods weren’t going to be used soon, there would be no U.N. Headquarters in the near future. Ironically, Lal was using the tactics that he denounced most to defeat an enemy who used those tactics to guarantee peace and stability- which was the same thing he wanted. The Federated Countries used the weapons first, then grasped for peace. The United Nations on Planet, long at peace, was now doing the reverse. Monsters, indeed.
On his way back to Hope of Humanity, Gray chuckled. It was not the irony. He had been sent a report from one of his lieutenants. The occupation forces at Green Garden had cracked the resistance, and the Sixteenth Battalion was shelling Gaia’s Landing with great success. A probe team had also managed to extract masses of energy from the casinos at Morgan Bank.
Additionally, unexpectedly, Academician Prokhor Zakharov had signed a treaty of alliance with the Cult. They apparently had uncovered some damning footage within the Temple of Planet. Perhaps it would bring down Gaia’s good name on Chiron, and bring more to the cause.
When he returned to the headquarters, he roared with joy. Production of the planet buster could begin! Significant progress had been achieved. Not only that, another shell of quantum physics had been cracked. New weapons were ready for infantry and artillery.
Victory was at hand.
Gray was sure of it.
***
Two great boils clashed at Garden of Planet. They shot psi waves and delusions at each other, they clawed and twisted at each other. They fought crudely, they fought bloodily, the psychic emanations tore out the psyches of thousands of Empaths kilometers around.
At last, the determined Xenophobes made their appearance. Armed with Chaos guns and armored with probability sheaths, they warped time and space, tearing apart the enemy and reluctant ally alike.
At the end of the day, the city was devastated. It was the tenth of many.
***
At the end, Cult of Planet swarms had opened the gates of Gaia’s Landing.
The Temple of Planet was stormed by Academicians, Cultists, and Xenophobes alike. What was discovered there made Cha Dawn’s sect look like a children’s crèche in comparison. The sacrificial tables there were smashed, the infected put to mercy, the dead buried. The priests, still drunk on spore wine, were executed.
Both the U.N. and the I.F.O.C. charged Deidre Skye with crimes against humanity. Sister Godwinson and Bishop St. Clare called for a crusade of all Christians. None of these factions did anything, though Foreman Domai did use the atrocities as an excuse to pollute a lot more.
CEO Nwabudike Morgan had left the war long before Gaia’s Landing fell. The GEE had hired the Nautilus Pirates to do some terrorizing of trade. Murder had been committed on the high seas, and thus Morgan Industries turned to other matters.
The Gaian headquarters was savaged. The destruction of it by AXIS’s third planet buster was beyond horror and is indescribable here.
In the end, Deidre was captured in a mindworm boil, fleeing with her last attendants. The boil was burned to the ground, and she was locked away deep in the bowels of Hope of Humanity.
The suns had risen on a new day. Gray looked out of his H.Q. window, and saw peace there, just hanging by a thread.
The Cult would betray him soon. It was certain. They would be destroyed, with any remnants of the Usurper and the Caretaker. Then Aki-5 and her posthuman abominations would be erased. Projects would have to be undertaken to control and to grind the uncontrolled mindworms to extinction. And if any sentient machines revolt or Xenos land, they would be dealt with.
Then, there would be peace on Planet.
Maybe.
Scourging of Planet: The Gaian-AXIS War or,
An Apocalyptic and Epic Saga Condensed into a Very Short Story
“We have reviewed your terms… and we agree,” said the General.
“Good,” said the Prophet. “War forges strange allegiances. So long as the unclean dwell upon Planet, she will always be at war. We will not forget this, Patrick Donovan Gray.”
The viewscreen switched off.
The General grit his teeth. It was done.
He had just sworn peace with his second greatest enemy.
And now they would destroy his first.
***
General Patrick Donovan Gray was the leader of the Anti-Xenos Initiative Society, principle offshoot of the Spartan Federation. He was not a happy man. Like so many who had lost loved ones to the natural menaces of Planet, he could never be happy again. But he had long bit back memories of his wife and sons caught at Shield Hall, in the attack by the largest of mindworm boils in a century. Whenever such thoughts came up, he stoically channeled them for his effort.
His effort. His purpose. His life.
To purify Chiron and to serve humanity.
That was never in the AXIS Manifesto. He never had to say it. It was the unwritten code that all Xenophobes lived and died for- to exterminate the mindworms, to raze the fungus, to fight the alien, to oppose the empath, to kill the Voice of Planet.
And now he had pledged allegiance to him.
War did indeed forge strange allegiances.
***
The General inspected the blank halls of the Fusion Lab. Technicians scurried about, showing progress and looking busy. So far there was not much completed. The planet buster he had lifted from the armory of Sparta Freehold had already served its immediate purpose, four mission years ago, at the destruction of the Cult of Planet’s second largest military base. Unfortunately, the meager amount of scientists he had managed to recruit and bring to the cause of AXIS did not include those who were familiar with the missile project, and its technologies were never unlocked and backwards-engineered.
No matter. High Energy Chemistry was the road to progress. The General was impressed by the progress thus far, given the circumstances. Conflict with other factions was endless, whether it was from Mother Sparta, Hated Cult, or now the death-marked Nemesis Gaia.
He paused by a screen displaying a massive map of Planet. The Cult of Planet’s strength was increasing ever since their first blood truce four years ago. AXIS was incapable of decimating them. Gaia was as rich and fat as always, friend to the Morganite plutocrats and the damnable Planet. They now threatened the Prophet Cha Dawn’s hegemony over Chiron’s nature.
Probe teams and bought information from the University had proven this. Planet was no Gaia of Earth. She may have been a more cohesive, more powerful-seeming force, but she was by no means sentient. The god of Chiron was not one, but some sort of psichiempathic phenomenon vulnerable to those with skills in psi. Presently, Gaia and the Cult had dominion over great sections of this blind idiot god. Cha Dawn’s reckless industrialization and mining of it has hurt his influence. The rise of the Psions threatened his psichic control.
The Cult had no friends. Neither did their enemy among enemies, the Society. Somehow, the Cultist advisors of the boy-king had convinced him that this would be a good idea.
The General had no need for advisors. He was paranoid enough. The Cult had approached him because they both had the same enemy: the Gaians. Enemy of my enemy. It was that simple. Cha Dawn had even offered him a continual alliance, to use and topple each petty kingdom and dukedom of the Planet, one by one, until-
He had not finished. The General understood fully. War between the two was inevitable, and it was foolish for the Prophet to suggest otherwise. The Cult of Planet had no use for any of humanity that did not bow down to him. Gray was no megalomaniac, either. He did not want to rule any other faction, even if they were inept, foolish, villainous, greedy, self-absorbed, deluded, weak, or stupid. He accepted them as humanity, even it they did not accept him nor his crusade.
Yet.
***
“Sir, I must implore you, this tech will completely….”
“Enslave us to the machine! No, I cannot allow it. Authorizing the development of sentient computing was risky enough. To attach our bodies and minds to them will by our deaths.”
“But Mind/Machine Interface could revolutionize warfare!” protested the engineer.
“And create a revolt of the nonhuman. You are dismissed.”
The young man, a former prodigy of the University, left. He decided not to make the General repeat himself.
Gray, sat back and sighed sadly. He knew that the boy was wasting an opportunity here. But he also knew that he was clearing his conscience. Better lock up the homunculi before it rises up and destroys everything. There are better ways to fight monsters without becoming one yourself.
The reports were grim. Needlejets from Morgan Industries had destroyed a convoy to the Third Army. The siege of Green Garden was taking a long time, though the base was small. A probe attack at a Central Thought Tank station had failed to gleam any new information about the scourge.
But hope was not yet gone. His faction had seen victories before, and they were vivid in his dreams.
***
“I suggest you use this time to prepare to meet your Gaia,” he spoke surely, gaze piercing.
Tabernacle of Thorns burst into flames. Great square kilometers were obliterated, farming lands burned, the entire river basin reshaped, rolling hills flattened.
All Gray could see was the eyes of the Cult high priestess widen in fear, unbelieving, a nanosecond before her unbecoming.
Five thousand Cultists dead, four major boils destroyed, diabolical abominations sent back to the Pit in a holocaust of semi-holy fire.
Revenge was honeyed.
***
“The Security Council of Planet has now gone into voting bloc. No messages are to be passed. All doors are locked. There is to be no talking,” intoned the arbiter, a Peacekeeper.
The General looked to his fellow faction leaders. The siege on U.N. Headquarters had been temporarily lifted for pressing business. No peacemaking, of course. Just some reshuffling of global affairs to incite more conflict.
“The vote is for the repealing of the Earth-era U.N. Charter. All in favor?”
The General pushed his button. Nearly unanimous. He hadn’t even have to bribe any others. All over Planet, battles had been lost, and Drones everywhere were revolting. Unrest and obfuscation was suspected to be caused by probe attacks by the three securest factions at peace- Data Angels, Psions, and the Elders of Chiron. Like retirees and scalawags, they were content with simple alliance with each other and unspoken vendetta with everyone else. Nerve stapling was needed, and- if the three factions were ever caught- there would be some obliterating.
Lal himself had gone against his creed and purpose. He was resolute in his vote for the repealing. The war with the Magistrates was going badly, and if nerve pods weren’t going to be used soon, there would be no U.N. Headquarters in the near future. Ironically, Lal was using the tactics that he denounced most to defeat an enemy who used those tactics to guarantee peace and stability- which was the same thing he wanted. The Federated Countries used the weapons first, then grasped for peace. The United Nations on Planet, long at peace, was now doing the reverse. Monsters, indeed.
On his way back to Hope of Humanity, Gray chuckled. It was not the irony. He had been sent a report from one of his lieutenants. The occupation forces at Green Garden had cracked the resistance, and the Sixteenth Battalion was shelling Gaia’s Landing with great success. A probe team had also managed to extract masses of energy from the casinos at Morgan Bank.
Additionally, unexpectedly, Academician Prokhor Zakharov had signed a treaty of alliance with the Cult. They apparently had uncovered some damning footage within the Temple of Planet. Perhaps it would bring down Gaia’s good name on Chiron, and bring more to the cause.
When he returned to the headquarters, he roared with joy. Production of the planet buster could begin! Significant progress had been achieved. Not only that, another shell of quantum physics had been cracked. New weapons were ready for infantry and artillery.
Victory was at hand.
Gray was sure of it.
***
Two great boils clashed at Garden of Planet. They shot psi waves and delusions at each other, they clawed and twisted at each other. They fought crudely, they fought bloodily, the psychic emanations tore out the psyches of thousands of Empaths kilometers around.
At last, the determined Xenophobes made their appearance. Armed with Chaos guns and armored with probability sheaths, they warped time and space, tearing apart the enemy and reluctant ally alike.
At the end of the day, the city was devastated. It was the tenth of many.
***
At the end, Cult of Planet swarms had opened the gates of Gaia’s Landing.
The Temple of Planet was stormed by Academicians, Cultists, and Xenophobes alike. What was discovered there made Cha Dawn’s sect look like a children’s crèche in comparison. The sacrificial tables there were smashed, the infected put to mercy, the dead buried. The priests, still drunk on spore wine, were executed.
Both the U.N. and the I.F.O.C. charged Deidre Skye with crimes against humanity. Sister Godwinson and Bishop St. Clare called for a crusade of all Christians. None of these factions did anything, though Foreman Domai did use the atrocities as an excuse to pollute a lot more.
CEO Nwabudike Morgan had left the war long before Gaia’s Landing fell. The GEE had hired the Nautilus Pirates to do some terrorizing of trade. Murder had been committed on the high seas, and thus Morgan Industries turned to other matters.
The Gaian headquarters was savaged. The destruction of it by AXIS’s third planet buster was beyond horror and is indescribable here.
In the end, Deidre was captured in a mindworm boil, fleeing with her last attendants. The boil was burned to the ground, and she was locked away deep in the bowels of Hope of Humanity.
The suns had risen on a new day. Gray looked out of his H.Q. window, and saw peace there, just hanging by a thread.
The Cult would betray him soon. It was certain. They would be destroyed, with any remnants of the Usurper and the Caretaker. Then Aki-5 and her posthuman abominations would be erased. Projects would have to be undertaken to control and to grind the uncontrolled mindworms to extinction. And if any sentient machines revolt or Xenos land, they would be dealt with.
Then, there would be peace on Planet.
Maybe.