Ascension

[TheAmerican]

TheAmerican presents a story based on the Civilization IV mod, Final Frontieer.

Forward

For generations man has looked up to the stars and wondered who governed the heavens. The vast expanses of space had been out of the reaches of humanity for eons. Left in the dark, a primitive humanity could only wonder what lay outside their tiny planet. To explain the unknown, they said the Gods created and governed the heavens. As time went on and humanity advanced, these explanations lost credibility.



In time, man invented a primitive form of space travel. They explored the planets of the Sol system, and shed light on many of humanity's greatest mysteries. But man could only watch in awe at the workings of the galaxy around him, a galaxy which he could not manipulate or exploit, and with growing populations and increased scarcity of resources exploitation of other planets would be the only way for humanity to grow.



Inter-stellar travel was the next step humanity would have to take, if it were to continue It's growth. However, humanity was divided into hundreds of quarrelling nations. Competition for resources, famine, and cold hard economics became obsticles on the road to a true form of inter-stellar travel.

The major nations of Earth ruled with an iron fist. They used devastating weapons against each other, destroying their environments and slaughtering their people. Scientific progress was limited to the development of new weapons, and scientific breakthroughs were ussually cast aside in the interests of economics. It seemed like humanity would destroy itself before it could even leave It's homeworld.



But there was hope. A global uprising, one which the world had never seen, overthrough the governments of the world. The entire world was consumed in a brutal civil war. Many died, much of the Earth was devastated, but from the ashes rose a united government of Earth. It wasn't long until they realized that the Earth could no longer sustain the full burden of humanity. All efforts were devoted to the development of inter-stellar travel. It wasn't long until they achieved that goal.



For the first time in history, humanity had a chance to govern the heavens. They could be Gods. The slow, steady, and hard path began there. Humanity began It's...

Ascension

 

[TheAmerican]

Chapter I: Brotherhood

Location: Phyrus, Osla forced labor camp
Date: January 4th, 2302
Subject: Cpl Ferguson
Occupation: Intelligence Non-Commissioned Officer

Words can't describe the things that happened at Osla. Atrocities were a daily occurance. At first we just dumped the bodies in the prison's sewer system, but eventually we ran out of room down there and had to start cremating them. The smell still hangs in my nostrils to this very day. I should know, I shed my fair share of blood. I was the Intelligence NCO for the 14th PDEFC.

I remember the first time I killed. Our XO, Commander Pressly, brought in one of the Brotherhood's ring leaders. We tried softening him up with a little psycological torture, we went strictly by the book. It started with sleep deprivatin, we kept him awake for two days straight on bread and water. That didn't make this one crack though, it seemed to only strengthen his resolve. Looking back, we tried everything that we were allowed to do. Loud music, bright lights, subliminal messages, regular beatings. Nothing worked.

So Commander Pressly pulls me aside one day and asks me, "how far are you willing to go for justice." Then he slid a 9mm pistol into my hands, and looked me in the eyes. I understood what he wanted me to do, but I didn't know if I could really do it. I soon answered that question. When I went to "Talk" with the prisoner, I still had the gun holstered and didn't intend to use it. A part of me was screaming to keep it there, but another part of me wanted to put a slug in that Freak's head. He was a big time crime boss back on Earth, his organization had crippled all of Southern Germany. He had everybody under his thumb or on his bank roll, and he was a ruthless tyrant. He killed women, children, men, and anybody else who threatened his criminal empire.

They managed to catch him on a technicality. He hadn't paid his taxes in over twenty years. The PDE pulled a couple of strings and exiled him to Phyrus, sparking protests across Europe. It was a first, being exiled from Earth for tax evasion. It set a horrible precedent, but in my mind it was necessary. He didn't waste any time continuing his work here on Phyrus, he became a major player in the Brotherhood and we suspected that he had information that could help us bring the organization to It's knees. Now I had the chance to end his life, to make him pay for all of the lives he destroyed.

I asked him again for information, but he stone walled me like he always did. I looked into those cold, gray eyes of his and knew nothing else would work. Before I knew it, I snapped. He'd been toying with us for the past week and it pissed me off. This scum bag only understood one brand of justice, he would only submit to deadly force. I shoved the gun right between his eyes and warned him one last time. Nothing came out of his mouth, his eyes were still cold and gray, unfeeling almost. I knew right then and there that it was time to end it, one way or another.

So I pulled the trigger, and painted the walls with gray matter. It was the first time, but it would not be the last. Many more died in those rooms, the prisoners soon began to suspect something, so we picked up on the killing. We wanted to exterminate them all, we hated them so much and they hated us too. If we didn't have to explain the disapperances to the PDE, we would have iced the entire camp right then and there. But we practiced restraint.

We carried on in this way until we lost contact with the PDE. First we lost contact with Earth, then the 14th left to establish contact with Earth again, leaving us intelligence and support cats down here to manage the psychos. The prisoners became more and more beligerant every day, we responded by killing even more of them. Soon it was obvious that they knew what we were doing, and soon after, the revolt happened. They brutally murdered Commander Pressly in the courtyard, then they moved on to the armoury. They took out an entire security team and secured our largest cache of weapons.

Before we knew it, they had the facility. We actually found out about it over the prison intercom too, "attention PDE scum, the Brotherhood now controls this facility."

This is my last will and testament to what happened here. I'm not proud of what we did, but I still think it was necessary. All of my comrades have either died at the hands of those psychos or have taken their own lives. I am the last one left. Once they take control of Osla, they will have command of the planet's defense network and ships. I hope the universe is ready for a planet of criminals, I just don't want to be here when it happens.

 

[TheAmerican]

Location: Phyrus, Osla forced labor camp
Date: January 8th, 2302

The control room was a derelict. Dead Marines laid sprawled out on the cold steel floor, in almost awkward positions. Most were victims of self inflicted gun shots, they'd taken the easy way out. Others had been wounded and retreated to the control room, seeking out medical supplies and stimulants to dull the pain, only to bleed to death. The control room had been the last holdout for the Marines, they'd successfully held off the Brotherhood for four days. However, they'd run out of food and water and faced a painful death. The Brotherhod put them through intense psychological tortues aswell. The sound of drilling and pounding on the hatch went on twenty-four hours a day. Whether this was intentional or not does not matter, they took their lives in the end.

The silence is broken by an intense explosion. The hatch topples into the room and crashes on the ground. The air is filled with cheers and cusses, a final victory had been achieved. Lukas Von Reuther, the leader of these men walked through the carnage and took in his surrondings. He pryed a handgun from a Marine's dead hands and raised it in the air, "this is the end of an era my friends, their systematic slaughter of our brothers is over!!!" The men cheered, Von Reuther cheered with them. He had risen as the leader of these men, many of the old leaders had died in the battle for Osla. Only he was left standing, a lowly Lieutenant in the Brotherhood's criminal organization. They all had a lot to celebrate.

"However," Von Reuther interupted, "the real war is still on the horizon."

"Let the PDE try to put our chains back on," replied Hans, one of Von Reuther's closest friends.

The men found this to be amusing, but Von Reuther did not, he maintained the serious demeanor and iron will that put him into the position he was now in.

"The PDE will be back and we must prepare."

Everything went silent.

"Osla is not just a labor camp, it is the command post for the planet's entire defense network."

"Then Phyus is ours!"

"Indeed it is my friend," Von Reuther replied, "but it won't be ours for long if we do not construct a fleet of our own and convince the citizens of Phyrus to fight alongside us."

Hans stepped forward, "do what you feel is right Lukas, we'll follow you anywhere."

The men cheered in unison, it was offical now. Von Reuther would lead the Brotherhood to greatness, or to destruction. Von Reuther dismissed the men, but ordered Hans to stay there with him. When the last man left, Von Reuther looked Hans in the eyes and grabbed his hands.

"Hans," Von Reuther says, "I trust you with my life."

"And I trust you with mine," Hans replied.

"This is why I want you to be my second in command," Von Reuther said.

"I'd be honored, but I don't know if I can handle that responsibility."

"Nonsense! I need you Hans, I'm putting you in charge of arming and training the men, I want them to put the PDE's Marines to shame."

Hans chuckled, the PDE Marines were elite and unmatched in the galaxy.

"I'll try."

"Good enough," Von Reuther smirked, "dismissed."

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It took the Brotherhood a total of four days to crush the security forces at Osla. When they achieved victory they were presented with an interesting opportunity. The PDE had departed Phyrus, and with it they left all of her bases and planetary defenses undefended. Osla, being the heart of the planetary defense network, was left with a detachment of Marines but they had been defeated. The Brotherhood now had complete control of Phyrus' defense network, thus they de facto had control of the entire planet. Every citizen, prisoner, and PDE loyalist would have to bow before them or face extermination.

For now, Phyrus belonged to the Brotherhood. Nothing short of a PDE fleet would be able to change that, and the Brotherhood has time to prepare and build up for that. Their charismatic leader, Lukas Von Reuther, would spend the coming monthes stockpiling weapons and bring PDE defenses back on online. He'd also spend much time and energy trying to win the hearts and minds of the citizens, he introduced many liberal programs and gave them rights the PDE refused to grant them. He was very successful. They were preparing for a counter attack that would never come. When they realized this, they're mission changed from one of escape to one of galactic conquest. If the PDE was truly gone, there would be a massive power vacuum that the Brotherhood could fill. And they intended to do just that.