Adventures in Parodyverse - Saving the Future Part 17.1.1


    It’s been known for a while that Shee-Yar was heading into a rapid decline.  Like any other militaristic society, they tried hard to cover up that fact by rapidly advancing their military, and quickly escalating conflicts to justify it.

    The Galactic Government, which until then had been fairly isolationist and concerned mostly with trading interests, had been faced with the Shee-Yar behaving aggressively toward its trading partners.  Most of its partners were not nearly advanced as the Shee-Yar, and were no match for them.  Because of that the four Companies of the Trading Alliance found their bottom line hit hard by the encroaching Shee-Yar.

    The highly advanced Trading Alliance always had powerfully armed ships to combat rampant piracy that the weak Galactic Navy couldn’t seem to curb.  So the Galactic Government authorized the Trading Alliance to destroy any Shee-Yar craft in its trading territory to insure the safety of its trading partners.

    That led to Six Week War.  While the Shee-Yar were seriously outgunned and outclassed by the Trading Alliance ships, the Shee-Yar outnumbered them thousands to one, and they thought nothing of taking out their losses on the helpless trading partners.  The Galactic Government acted again, finally authorizing its Navy to blockade the Shee-Yar Empire.

    Fortunately the blockade ended the war, as Shee-Yar ships could no longer return home to resupply, and they began to surrender to the Galactic Navy.  Unlike the Trading Alliance ships, however, the Galactic Navy was bound by Galactic Law and the Rules of Engagement to return the Shee-Yar and their ships home via Wormhole Anchor.

    The Shee-Yar remained within their borders after that, silently.  It was discovered later, though, that they hadn’t given up - they increased military spending, and began outfitting their ships and their troops with salvaged Parody Master technology.  They knew that had to upgrade after an unseen and powerful enemy had cheated them out of their conquests.  Their plan was to take Earth first, and then seek revenge against their other enemies.

    But that plan was never realized.  Something wiped them all out first.

    That was as much as the Company Research Team could figure out from what was left.  Every living person on Shee-Yar had been killed, in the style of a hunter butchering his prey.  Not a weapon of mass destruction, or any kind of pathogen.  No obvious evidence of what race or faction had done it - it was as if one independent person murdered everyone, which should have been impossible.  It was a sobering and frightening scene.

    Upon receiving the news, the Galactic Government temporarily suspended the salvage rights, and asked that the Research Team withdraw, in the interest of preserving the investigation.  After conferring with the local office of the Intergalactic Order of Librarians, a quarantine was placed upon the planet, to be enforced by four cloaked Galactic Navy destroyers.  There were races which specialized in investigating this kind of thing - it was both far beyond the capability of the Trading Alliance, and not terribly profitable for them either.  The investigation had been outsourced.

    Meanwhile, on Earth, the Trading Alliance Light Cruiser Heart Of Light floated invisibly five thousand feet above where the Lair Mansion used to be, and the usual activity aboard the Cruiser had ground to a halt.  They were currently doing a few spectrum analyses.  Energy signatures later showed that an outside influence had taken the Lair Mansion out of the current dimension.

    The Captain then retreated to her quarters for a strategy meeting with the First Officer, at her desk.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What if we can’t find this Sir Mumphrey Wilton?”  the First Officer asked.  “Evidence shows he’s extra-dimensional right now.  We can’t stay here and wait for his return...the Company will want to know where we are and what we’re up to.  We’re costing them money.”

    Captain Shen Rae leaned back in her office chair, the crisp blue tunic of her uniform crumpling as she reached over the lounger’s arm.  
    
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I know.”  she said.  “I’m going to have to request a tele-meeting with the Director.  Convince him how important this is.”  She shook her head sadly.  “We’re talking about intergalactic war here.  Losing trading partners and potential trading partners who are putting all their resources into survival.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Are you saying Earth is a potential trading partner?  But it’s off limits--”  First Officer Jai Yoon worried about what her Captain was saying.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No.”  Shen Rae rotated her chair back and forth thoughtfully.  “It’s the current Nexus, though, and it’s neutral.  If Earth loses Nexus status it may lose it to a non-neutral party.  Right now there are two ways it can lose that status...ruling of the Cosmic Order, or--”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Or its destruction.”  Jai Yoon finished for her.  “And we can’t stop the Cosmic Order...so we have to protect it from destruction.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Sir Mumphrey is the last known commander of its military forces.  He must accept our protection, which we must maintain in a way that none of the non Trade Alliance members will detect us.”  Shen Rae noted.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“And it has to do with those?”  Jai Yoon was speaking of the items in the glass case.

    Shen Rae looked at the glass case as well.  “Only you and I know about those.”  she said.  “And my father.  They are another reason we must speak with Sir Mumphrey...it’s just fortunate he’s also their military leader.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“If it wasn’t for your father we would be in serious trouble with the Company.”  Jai Yoon mused quietly.  Her smiled returned.  “I remember when we were younger, and he let you borrow one of the Gliders the Company gave him.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I brought it back in one piece.”  Shen Rae protested.

    The First Officer laughed.  “But you nearly got us shot down when you ignored the off-limits markers.”

    The Captain shrugged.  “I had to see what was there...I was kind of disappointed it was nothing.”

    There was a long pause before Jai Yoon finally asked, “What if the Lair Mansion never reappears?”

    Shen Rae pondered that for a moment, as she rocked in her chair gently.  “Then they may need our protection from invaders more than ever.”



TO BE CONTINUED?


-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2008 by Jason Froikin, and may not be 
--    reprinted without permission.  
-- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow
--  Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin
--  Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin