Galactica

Galactica

Chapter 1

Processing

I awoke slowly, my head pounding badly. The surface I lay on was surprisingly soft and comfortable. If there hadn't been the voices in the background, I might have thought that everything had been just a dream. A cool and wet cloth had been draped over my forehead, taking away some of the pain. Despite the strangeness of the situation, I decided against standing up and demanding answers. For the time being, listening to their conversation seemed like a better move.

        “I said no, Lieutenant! Now would you please get out of my quarters so I can start to get things worked out?” a female voice said quite firmly. Another female voice, this one sounding like someone who was trying to imitate a growl, answered the first one.

        “Miss... This is most unwise. We should bring that creature to security and process it immediately. It could be dangerous.” the second voice said almost pleadingly.

        “Nonsense. It's a normal human, and from what he's been carrying with him, he is not armed in any way. Or do you think I can't defend myself, Lieutenant?”

The hissing of an automated door announced the second speaker leaving without another word. As the door closed, I heard what sounded like an angry cat. Someone sighed, and I could hear the sounds of hooves on a carpet. The smell that hit my nostrils only a few seconds later told me who the first voice belonged to. It wasn't unpleasant, yet one could hardly mistake it for perfume. The slightly sweet and musty smell of a horse. No doubt about it.

I just lay still, wondering what would happen next, as something round and hard was placed on my chest. Was it checking my heartbeat? But... how could it do that with hooves? Another sigh, and the weight disappeared from my chest as quickly as it had been placed there.

There was a strange sound that I couldn't place, accompanied by one I knew only too well. A pack of tobacco unrolling.

        “Mhmm... it doesn't smell that bad...” it said, before suddenly spitting and dry heaving. I just couldn't keep quiet and longer, and decided to move the cloth over my eyes aside to take a look. What I saw, made me laugh pretty hard. The lavender mare was standing at a table on which everything that had been in my pockets was spread out. One of the packs of tobacco I had been carrying was floating in front of her, and she was now frantically trying to wipe her tongue with her hooves. While I was a smoker, I had to admit that trying to chew tobacco tasted pretty horrible.

        “Hey! Thwat's mot fummy!” she shouted, while still trying to get rid of the taste in her mouth. I got up, and found that it was pretty hard to move around, due to the thick plush carpet that covered the floor.

        “You mind?” I asked, as I snatched the pack of tobacco out of the air and took a look inside. Then I looked at the wet glob on the floor. She had actually tried to chew a mouthful of the stuff and, since she had a very big one compared to me, the pack was almost empty. I could only imagine how bad it must have been.

        “What... What is that stuff?” she coughed, and I just hoped she hadn't swallowed any of it. The stuff was poisonous after all.

        “Tobacco, and it's not for eating. You smoke it.” I explained, grabbing one of the other three packs, that were still sealed. A fresh pack of papers came with it, thank god, since her tongue had slobbered the one in the first pack up beyond help. She was watching me intently as I rolled myself a smoke and put it in my mouth... Only problem was that, no matter how hard I looked, my lighter was gone! I asked about it.

        “Security said it was potentially dangerous, so they took it.” she replied cautiously, giving me a strange look. It was then that I noticed that, no matter how relaxed my body language was, she was always keeping a certain distance from me. Just outside of arms reach. To be honest, that suited me just fine, since I was not sure about this strange Unicorn at all.

She was now wearing a black Uniform, that covered most of her body, except for her head and hooves. I could also see one of those strange looking weapons on her belt, which didn't do much to reassure me at all. Just... from what I had overheard, she had kept those cat things from taking me somewhere. They hadn't liked it by the sounds of it, and since I never was one for beating around the bush, I popped the question.

        “So... where am I, and when can I go home?” I asked, sitting back down on the sofa while rolling the cigarette between my fingers. Man, was I aching for a smoke.

I have no idea how I was able to tell, but her expression changed dramatically. The curiosity and wariness was suddenly gone, replaced by a look of sadness. I didn't like that change at all.

        “There... is a slight problem with that. We can't send you home. Not after you've seen us. We're in trouble as it is, and sending you back would have even more dire consequences.” she said, without looking at me. I was not going to take that lying down. OK, my life back home was not particularly great, but it was still better than being trapped somewhere I didn't want to be.

        “You've got to be kidding me! Come on. You've got to have some technology that can remove those memories from my brain. Besides, what kind of trouble could you possibly be in? I'm the one stuck who knows how far from home, talking to a freaking horse!” I finally snapped. And once again, her expression changed pretty abruptly. This time however, I liked it even less. The cool look she gave me, made me realize that I had overstepped some kind of line.

        “You being here violates Paragraph forty-two section Z of the intergalactic peace treaty. We can remove your memories, yes, but only by doing severe damage to your brain which, I assume, you don't want either. And the trouble we'd be in is far worse than what you have to face. The life as a galactic citizen can be quite pleasant. If this gets out to the wrong people before we can get you to Equus however, it could cause the second intergalactic war. Trillions died in the last war, and several races were pushed to the edge of extinction. Do you really want all that blood on your hands?” she asked me in such a cold voice that I couldn't help but shrink back a little.

After I had composed myself again, I sighed. No. I did not want any blood on my hands if I could help it. But why on earth would anyone be willing to fight a war, just because I had ended up here? It wasn't like I wanted to be here, or like these... people had brought me here deliberately after all.

        “What's your name?” she suddenly asked in a much gentler tone, and I noticed that I must have been staring at my shoes for a good few minutes.

        “Zeomak Seline Salchar. What's yours?”

She made a strange noise, that sounded like the snorting of a horse, but I guessed that I was better off not saying that. Instead I told her that I didn't understand what she had said. I was quite surprised that she blushed so hard that I could even see it through her lavender coat.

        “My name is Twilight Shine. I'm the head researcher here. Nice to meet you Zeomak.” she said a little embarrassed, and I guessed that the snorting had been her native tongue.

        “So, Twilight Shine... What will happen to me now? And what's that about a second intergalactic war? Mind explaining this to me?”

Twilight closed her lavender eyes for a moment before sighing heavily.

        “I guess that was to be expected. Come on, it'll be faster if I'll just show you.” she said, motioning with her head for me to follow her.

It was... strange. Even as she left the carpeted room, she did not come closer to me. Instead she trotted about three meters ahead of me, while we walked through empty hallways. The color white was everywhere here. Touching one of the walls with my hand, I noticed that the material almost felt like plastic. Only a whole lot harder. It must have had some sound absorbing qualities as well however, since I could not hear Twilights hooves on the ground at all.

        “So, as you might have guessed, you are on a space station. One of a few thousand to be precise. This was the first, and they exist to protect your solar system from outward influences.” she began to explain as we walked. I tried my best to remember the way we took, but it was no use. These hallways all looked the same to me.

        “Earth... When our race first encountered it, it was nothing but a volcanic wasteland, incapable of supporting life at all. It's gravity was much higher than it is now, but we saw it's potential. It was decided to terraform it, so that Equi colonists could live there. A lot of time and resources were spent to accomplish that goal. Afterwards, we left your planet alone.”

        “”But... if you wanted to found a colony there... then why did you just leave?” I inquired, earning myself a sheepish grin over her shoulder.

        “We enabled the planet to sustain life, but we also wanted it to develop for a while. We brought seeds and DNA samples from several worlds, so an ecosystem could develop on it's own. It's much simpler that way. Bringing plants from other planets is much more expensive, and takes much longer. It's easier to just plant some seeds and let nature run its course.” she explained, as we stepped into an elevator. Or... at least I suspected it to be an elevator. It was big enough for her to keep her distance from me.

        “But... since you did not colonize Earth, I guess something didn't go according to plan?” I suggested, and she nodded grimly.

        “Yeah... We Equi have been at war with a race that calls themselves the Arcoria. They are carnivores, and consider our meat to be a delicacy. When they heard of our colonization project, they sought to compromise it. They are also very skilled in genetic engineering, and so they just dumped some of their failed experiments on your planet, hoping that they would result in mutations and make the planet uninhabitable for us. They got their wish. Partially at least. Some of the waste they dumped caused the creatures that had developed on Earth to mutate. Soon the dinosaurs were born. A cosmic event that we couldn't have predicted wiped them out eventually, but the damage was already done. Life on your planet continued to thrive and evolve. Soon the first early humans had evolved.” Twilight sighed as the elevator came to a halt with a resounding ping.

        “Well, sorry if you lost your colony planet due to us, but I don't really complain. Had it not been for these... Arcoria, I wouldn't be here today.” I joked, but her steely gaze told me that this was a touchy subject for her.

        “However, we abandoned the colonization plans and left your people alone since we saw your potential to become an intelligent species. Others saw the entertainment value of such an early civilization however. Some even came and wanted to use your people as slave workers. A quite easy process for a civilization who has mastered intergalactic travel really. Some of those species have a breeding cycle that lasts for several of your earth years, while humans only need nine months to be born. Their plan was, to have a little breeding population of humans, take the children and dump them into growth chambers. That way they would have become adults in a matter of hours, instead of years. An implant, that would have been put in their brains prior to that, would have contained all the information and training they would have needed for their work. A really disgusting practice, but it was carried out for a while.”

I shuddered as I imagined this. Of course, it sounded like it came from a bad science fiction story, but then again, me being here wasn't exactly normal either.

        “You are telling me that, even as we speak, there are other humans out there?” I asked indignantly. Twilight shook her head sadly.

        “No. Two of the three races who sought to use your people in such a way, have been annihilated in the first intergalactic war. The third has exhausted their supply of humans in that war, and with us guarding your solar system, they have been unable to get more. There are however...” she said, and I stopped dead in my tracks as I saw the room she had brought me to.

The walls down here were different. They had been white at some point, I supposed, but now they were blackened in places. It almost looked as if someone had torched the walls with a laser or something. And then I saw them. About ten humans, even though I could barely identify them as such, were scattered around the room. One woman, who wore what looked like some sort of exoskeleton, was frozen in mid air as she jumped over a desk for cover. There were also several Equi, all of them firing their weapons at the humans. Their shots, were frozen in mid air as well.

It was like a 3D hologram of a battle for life and death, yet the air just in front of me was rippling slightly. The smell that came from that room was also not a pleasant one at all. Blood. Fresh blood. And burnt flesh. It was... surreal...

There was another Unicorn mare in the middle of it all. Other than her purple mane with the pink stripe in it, she was the spitting image of Twilight Shine. She was poking her head over a sparking console, her eyes wide in horror, as a beam of red energy hung in the air in front of her face. Her left hoof rested on a small lever, while her right one was pressed over a bleeding wound in her side. I could see that this bolt of energy, would take her face off if it wasn't frozen in mid air. Just what the hell was going on here?

The Equi guards seemed to have tried to keep these strange members of my race away from her, while she was working on something. But even though I could not see the entirety of the room, I saw that the fight had not been going in their favor. I could only see two mortally wounded humans, one man and one woman, while there were at least two dozen clearly dead Equi.

        “This was the last battle in the intergalactic war. Well... in fact it is still going.” Twilight said as she stepped up next to me, removing a stray strand of her black mane from her face with a hoof.

        “What the hell...” I muttered, not daring to touch the rippling air.

        “The Arcoria heard that one of our rulers was due to visit this research station. It was an inspection, before the peace treaty was signed. They were weakened by the war just was much as we were, and so they formed a plan. The security during the actual signing ceremony would have been much too heavy, and so they sought to assassinate head chancellor Celestia during her inspection. The humans you see here, were the last ones they had, and they wreaked havoc down here. Reports of the attack contradict themselves, but one thing is quite clear. Twilight Sparkle, one of my ancestors, saved this station and ensured that the Acoria would not be granted a voice in the intergalactic Senate for over a thousand years.” Twilight Shine explained, pointing at her doppelganger in the middle of the room with a hoof.

        “How exactly?”

        “I don't understand half of what she did. I'm not a genius, even though I am the head researcher. All I can say, is that she used some kind of time spell that she was working on. From what I was able to gather from her notes, she wanted to invent something that could replace our quite unreliable cryogenic technology. Sadly, all the data about is are on that console she's hiding behind...”

        “Spell?” I chuckled disbelievingly. I was quite sure that I didn't hear that correctly. Twilight Shine however just snorted.

        “In olden times, we called the use of galactic background radiation magic. Nowadays, we know better, but the techniques my subspecies of Equi can use with it are still called spells.” she explained, rolling her eyes at the unknowing human. I left it at that. There was no point in arguing about something I had no idea about. And, to be honest, I got the distinct feeling that I had all the time in the world to learn about it eventually.

Eyeing the scene before me a little closer, I saw that these were quite early humans. Not quite Neanderthals, but they weren't much farther along either. They had a distinctive skull form, and were quite a bit smaller than me. Nonetheless, I was sure that each and every one of them could kick my butt pretty hard.

Then, I saw it. One of the downed humans, the woman, had received a bad wound to the head. Part of her skull had been blown off, and where I should have seen her brain, I only saw electronics. At least I assumed that they were circuits of some sorts, since I saw a few small sparks frozen in mid air.

        “So you've noticed it, huh?” my four legged companion asked as she noticed where I was looking.

        “Pretty hard to miss...” I mumbled, not wanting to imagine what had been done to that poor woman.

        “The Arcoria removed part of their subjects brains, replacing it with cybernetic implants. It ensured that they were obedient and knew everything they needed to know to carry out their mission. The procedure was... barbaric, and yet their Senator has made demands to our own Senator in the council to return them, ever since they were allowed to join. We have refused their demands each and every time because, if they were to get their hands on these specimen, they would use their advanced technology to create more of them. They'd make them even more deadly, and this time they would come straight for our home world. You must know that you humans... We may be more advanced, but you guys are superior to us in physical terms. In addition to that, some of the modifications the Arcoria made in these mutants genome, makes them immune to galactic energy. That means our only defenses are firearms once they have landed. Close quarter combat usually ends badly for us...” she explained, pointing her hoof towards a stallion who lay in a heap, his head turned in an unnatural way.

This was just too much...

So the race that created humans as a byproduct in a war by dumping their waste on earth, wanted to use us as some kind of super weapon? A weapon that would ensure their victory against the Equi, whom they considered a delicacy? Oh, a few of my friends would really have field day with that idea... in a bad way...

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        “I am terribly sorry that we have to do this, but we can't assign quarters to you without having you guarded for now, and we just don't have enough security officers on board for that.” Twilight Shine said, bowing her head as I grabbed the bars of the cell they had put me in. I didn't make a fuss or rattle away at the bars. I just stood there, looking into her eyes accusingly.

She had, after all, brought me here under a false pretense. I had been promised food and a place to rest. A place where I could think about all that I had learned today. When she had walked me into a very nice looking office, that was filled with dozens of smaller cubicles, about a dozen of those cat creatures had jumped me. I didn't fight them. I went with them willingly, but even that didn't seem to mollify them enough to go easy on me.

To Twilight Shines credit, she had shouted at them not to hurt me. To her shame however, she had done nothing to prevent them digging their claws into my shoulders through my leather coat. I had to admit, it hurt... a lot! Their claws were razor sharp, and even breathing while they were embedded in my flesh, made them cut deeper into me.

My wounds had since been treated by a creature that had introduced itself as Foranga, and looked like a strange combination of horse and spider. No seriously. Foranga was an eight legged horse with six eyes.

I was still looking at Twilight, and I could see that it was making her very uncomfortable. Good. I wasn't really in a social mood right now. It had been hours since my last smoke. These cats had taken all my stuff away from me again, and I had just been thrown into a two by two cell. My only silver lining was, that it was a solo cell. No three meter cell mate like that guy who occupied the cell on the other side of the corridor. Thank god for small favors.

In the end, I turned around and flopped down on the metal bed with a groan. It was hard and cold and did nothing to improve my mood. Twilight did try to get me to talk, apologizing over and over again, but I wasn't having it. After about an hour, she finally left. At that point, I was glad that there were bars between us, because I could barely control myself anymore. Sweat was running down my face, and my blood felt as if it was boiling in my veins. Nicotine withdrawal... so not fun...

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I had lost all sense of time since I had been put into this cell. How long had I been locked up here? One day? Two? A week? I didn't know. The only indication of time I had, were the meals a robot delivered to each cell. What it brought me was... I don't know... It tasted disgusting, almost like rotted flesh, but my stomach accepted it without throwing up. That had to do for now I guessed. The robot had also informed me, that inmates did not get pillows or blankets. That meant, I had spent some time in this cell, without getting a decent nights sleep.

At that point in time, I was pretty sure that I would kill the first being who was foolish enough to open my cell.

        “Addicted, huh? What ya on?” The one eyed beast they had put in the cell next to mine asked through the bars in its raspy voice. It's slimy hands grabbed them, and some of the fluid dripped onto my sorry excuse for a bed. I snapped. With rage filling my vision, I shot forwards, reached through the bars, and grabbed onto the eye-stalk of the beast. It began to scream in pain as I squeezed, trying to pull it's eye through the bars to show it the mess it had made in my cell.

The next thing I knew, were five cat creatures pouncing on me. Their claws dug deeper this time, but I barely noticed the burning pain they caused. My fist connected with a fury nose, earning me a deep growl from the thing that fell back immediately. Punch by punch, kick by kick, I was working off my anger. The only problem with that was, that these cat things were very fast. I did land the occasional hit after that first one, but they took me serious now.

Had I been able to think straight, I would have realized that they were wearing me down on purpose. Make me bleed and then exert myself...

The world around me began to blur, shortly before I fell flat on my face after one of my punches missed it's mark. I was swallowed by the darkness of unconsciousness shortly after...

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Next time I awoke, I lay on a quite comfy bed. A nice change from the metal one I had been forced to use in that cell they had put me in. Twilight Shine sat next to the bed, a black sphere hovering around her head as she was shouting at someone I couldn't see.

        “This is unacceptable! The Nekorai ought to have shown some restraint! I know they're hunters by nature, but you promised me he would be taken care of like a guest!” she shouted, and was soon answered by another female voice. This one sounded regal and used to giving orders. Not only that, the one speaking also sounded as if she was used to her orders to be followed to the letter.

        “Twilight Shine, mind you manners! It's his own fault. The Nekorai only did their job in restraining him. He could have killed one of his fellow prisoners if they hadn't. Besides, I said I would do my best to make his stay on the station as pleasant as possible. I never said he'd be treated like a guest.”

        “It still is unacceptable, head chancellor. Zeomak did not resist when he was first put into custody, and not once did he try to escape. There must be a reason for his aggressive behavior, I'm sure of it.” Twilight argued and I finally managed to sit up on the edge of the bed. She scrambled away from me as soon as she noticed this, but I only waved a dismissive hand at her. My breathing was labored, and I felt as if someone had put my lungs into vice and was now doing his best to squeeze the air out of them. I really needed a smoke...

        “Ehm... head chancellor Celestia? May I call you back? He just woke up.” the lavender Unicorn said and, to my astonishment, the black sphere suddenly turned to me. I swatted at it with my right hand, missing on purpose. All I wanted to relay here, was that I didn't appreciate being prodded by some strange device right now. A slight chuckling could be heard from the device as it positioned itself in a respectful distance away from me.

        “So you are the human everyone is talking about, are you? You don't look anything like the humans I remember from the great war. Mind to explain why you attacked our security officers?” the female on the other side of the line said, sounding almost disappointed. I just nodded, looking longingly at my belongings that were laid out on the small metal table in the middle of the room. My tobacco was there, and they had even decided to add my lighter to my collection again. Swallowing hard, I forced myself to look directly at the small camera in the hovering sphere.

        “I'll answer your questions, I promise, but please let me have a smoke beforehand...” I said as calmly as I could, trying to control my breathing. Twilight, who seemed to remember what I had said the last time, levitated one of the packs and the lighter over to me. I took that as permission and rolled the fastest cigarette in the universe. I noticed that a small lavender field of energy was forming around the smoking end of it, but I didn't care at that moment. After the first puff, I coughed hard, but my heart rate calmed down almost instantly. Sure, I was feeling a little sick due to the long time I had gone without a smoke, but it was totally worth it. As long as I had my smokes, I was as calm as the sea on a sunny day.

        “Feeling better now?” the voice from the sphere asked, sounding almost amused. I nodded lazily, enjoying the last few puffs on my cigarette. After putting it out on my tongue, since I didn't see an ashtray anywhere, I looked at the rest of my things once more. My cellphone, my tablet, three extra packs of tobacco and my glasses. Everything was there, but there was something extra as well. Struggling to my feet, I walked over to the table. I immediately noticed that the floor in this room was not carpeted, so I was not in Twilight Shines quarters this time.

I must have looked like an idiot as I picked up the golden chain that lay on the desk. A fang was fastened on it like a pendant, it's root still showing a little bit of dried blood.

        “You like your trophy?” the female voice asked, and I spun around. It wasn't a good idea, since it made me feel quite dizzy and I had to steady myself on the table to prevent myself from falling over.

        “What do you mean, trophy?” I demanded, looking closely at the fang.

        “That fang belongs to the female Nekorai officer you punched yesterday. She brought it over this morning.” Twilight Shine explained, grinning sheepishly. I had the distinct feeling that I was missing something important here.

        “So, I punched one of her teeth out, and she makes me a necklace out of it? Why?”

        “The Nekorai may be part of the intergalactic community, but they still value some of their tribal traditions. At some point in their evolution, the females decided that they would test any potential partner. Only if the male was able to get a trophy from her, which has to be a part of her body, and she decides to give it to him, she will be willing to mate with him.” Head chancellor Celestia explained, and I instantly dropped the necklace.

        “No use now. You've touched it, so your smell is on it.” Twilight sighed, but the sly grin that played around her muzzle betrayed her amusement at my situation.

        “Oh, come on! You've got to be kidding me! I'm not looking for a wife, especially not one that could cut me apart with her claws!” I grunted, putting my right hand to my forehead.

After about twenty minutes, in which I didn't stop to lament my predicament, we finally got down to business. Twilight explained to me that they had decided to put me into my own quarters after all, since I didn't seem to get along with the other inmates. The small alabaster sphere I had found in my coat back on earth was also returned to me.

It would keep an eye on me, and had been programmed to disable me if I stepped out of line. How it would do that was not explained, only that I was not going to like it. After that, I was informed that a shuttle would take me to Equus the following day for an audience with the two head chancellors of the Equi Empire. They would then decide if I would be made an Equi citizen or not.

Celestia however reassured me that it was quite unlikely that Twilights request to make me a citizen was rejected. After all, the Equi had a lot to loose in this as well. If they adopted me as one of their citizens, the council could punish them, sure, but they would not have to face the full scale or retribution from the rest of the intergalactic community. It had something to do with laws and regulations, which I did not fully understand, but in the end it came down to one point. As long as I willingly asked for refuge, there was a law that allowed them to take me in, even if I was not from a race that belonged to the intergalactic community. They would suffer some trade embargo for a while, but nothing more serious.

If I did not become a citizen, then other races could declare treaties null, and try to make their move on earth once again. In this case, the Equi defense fleet was authorized to use lethal force to prevent them from entering the system. It was up to me to prevent that. With a heavy sigh, I resigned myself to my fate in the end. I even put on the necklace that had been left for me. After all, in twenty-four hours, I'd be gone from this space station, and that cat creature thing would not follow me, right?