The Empire of Man (series of short stories)

[Starhawk]

[b]A father's letter(/b]

It had been five months since the report on INS telling of how the 6th fleet was mobilizing for reasons unknown, and informing citizens all over the Empire of the defeat of the Goa'ould and a lot had happened in those six months. The hated Xi-Chung hivemind surrendered to Imperial forces and the 9th fleet under Admiral Hursh was now establishing garrisons as it moved on into former Goa'Ould space to quell the massive riots being caused by minor Goa'Oulds with their small Jaffa forces trying to vie for power.

Meanwhile at the other end of the Galaxy the rebel alliance's Last worlds surrendered to the Empire bringing an end to their treacherious activities against the common good of mankind. And although the Empire of Man was larger then ever the fear prevailed that it's military was not any stronger then it had been prior to incorporating three races in the period of only 12 months time...fleet shipyards like those above my homeworld of New Scotland were even now building more cruisers,battleships,dreadnoughts and flagships, to support the cause you see. But those of us who lived on the ship producing worlds also had a benefit of our industry, one we got a lot of money from the Navy and two we were exempt from the military draft because of the need for so many workers on a world that does nothing but build starships, now of course like any other planet in the Empire we are required to keep our home guard regiments at strength and of course we are responsible for the construction of orbital minefields and weapon platforms but as far as any of us were concerned we were happy with our own tiny bit of the universe and we didn't need to go see any other planets anyway.

Well now that was the feelings of most of the older generation like myself, we build ships we don't fly em or fight em, but you see the young people had heard about the wars and the conquests and more and more they were volunteering to join the Imperial Navy, and especially volunteering for the ships headed to the 6th fleet because of the rumors that they were going to yet another glorious conquest for the empire, unfortunately for me one of those foolish young people was my daughter Elanora, now I don't mean foolish as in stupid because my little Elanora is one smart girl she graduated the Imperial Highschool in Edinberough at 15 and when she came home her mother and I were so proud. Well the pride was soon overridden by shock as our little girl came home wearing Navy blues with a young man at her side, a bloody lieutenant to boot, her best friend Paul Reinher was in system after a year away stationed at 6th fleet HQ, waiting for a ship of his own he said..go figure he convinced our daughter that the stories were true and that the navy was like the bloody circus where everyday was an adventure and where everything you did was important.

Well my daughter still has 4 months before her comission becomes active aboard the new dreadnought being built (in my very own shipyards of all places!) so when she came home the other night I tried to talk her out of letting herself be activated, I tried to tell her to quit to leave the fleet before she was assigned but that girl has too much of her mother in her Admiral and if your smart you'll end up giving her a command of her own by the end of the year, Lord Tyberius my only request of you is that you make sure my daughter comes home alive when she is under your command, now I don't know if the rumors are true and that you are headed off to war but if you are and if my daughter does not come home as I'm sure many sons and daughters won't I will hold you personally responsible Admiral my Lord and if you survive where she does not you and I will have an appointment on the field of honor the very day you return.

Signed: Scott Cargill Master of the New Scotland yards .

OOC: Okay no action in this story, just a letter from a distraught father to a Lord of the Admiralty but right now the universe is quiet for the Empire of man as all of it's enemies have fallen.
For a little info on what's going on in the universe at large:

The Norak and Manticore star kingdom (both allies of the EOM) are at war and have been for about 20 years, not much has come of this though because my empire lies between them and only their occasional fleet run into each other, usually leading to a swift defeat on both sides as what few ships are left limp back to their ports. Basically it's a stalemate and I intend to leave it that way because I am making Millions off of those two

The only other races left are the Sonne clan who is powerful and also at war with the Norak ('nother stalemate) and is involved in a trade and research alliance with me.

The Cluk'Ruk republic who just happened to unfortunate enough to be dead smack dab in the middle of a major Manticore Norak engagment, for the most part they are out of the fight, they are still surviving though and under a treaty of subjagation with me.

The Krill, well similar boat to the Cluk-Ruk they pissed off the wrong guys when they invaded Manticore systems and were swiftly beaten back by the Superior Manticore forces and that counter attack turned into an all out offensive bringing the krill down to 3 planets no ships and under my dominance

The general flow of power goes like this:

Norak are the most powerful with
39 systems
712 planets
1,000+ starships.

The Sonne clan come up a close second with
24 systems
410 worlds
930+ ships.

The Empire of Man come in 3rd with
33 systems,
417 worlds
424 ships

The manticore come in 4th with:
25 systems
358 planets
405 ships

Kluk-Ruk are 5th (neutrals) with:
3 systems (dunno don't ask me)
25 Planets
9 ships

Then comes the Krill in LOL 11th place with:
1 system
3 planets
0 ships

I am hoping the allied Sonne and Manticore kill the Norak, or at least cause all sides so much devestation that I can move in and pick up the peices but right now the Norak are mainly fighting on the Sonne front as they are closest to each other. And my scout ships only witnessed small 2-8 ship battles so I don't know what's going on there.

When some action happens I promise I'll make a nice action packed story but for now you can look forward to stories about people, and espionage agents and assassins

[ July 14, 2004, 22:03: Message edited by: Starhawk ]