– by Lucia Ferragano

Rens, Minmatar space.
Rokh class battleship “Fire Tornado”, Strategic Command room

Mrs. Beraha Kaanaetan, or Lady K. as she now demanded to be called, strode regally into the room. It was highly usual for capsuleers to fly a ship without being locked into a pod and she tremendously appreciated the opportunity. Most people in that room, in bodies or tridimensional avatars, were her trusted advisors and partners. They had worked together for over five years now, in the most dangerous and demanding situations the cluster offered. They had built an empire spanning from Minmatar space to Khanid space, and way beyond into the wilds. They had brought their lands and dominions to the common cause and made their best efforts to allow people who trusted their capsuleer wisdom to live their earthbound lives. And now, that was threatened by that single ridiculous planet in Querious, offering supplies to their enemies. Something had to be done to ensure nobody ever made that mistake again.

Kaanaetan sat in the simple brushed steel Caldari executive armchair and powered up her datapad. Something was going to be done.

Querious, AZ7C9 constellation, planetary settlement

The fiery colors of burning skies rival the bloody skin of the Bahani Hound, but tonight, nobody had any time to watch the sun setting. Bahani, also known as GOP-GE III to CONCORD, had been settled for less than half a century. Lao Pai had come from Timudan 1, 47 universal years ago. He had been 19 when he left the small colony in low security space to “make a fortune”. Make a fortune indeed… he looked at the wrecked roof of the Caldari housing that the Bahani Colonization Authority had provided him 40 years ago, after 7 long years of harassing work creating a spaceport in such a low pressure atmosphere. The planetary year was so much shorter on Bahani that he had seen 173 winters come and go. On the other hand, winter was only one month long here. But now, the roof was gone, as most roofs in the settlement. Orbital lasers had targeted the housing in retaliation for providing supplies to a capsuleer alliance, turning the burning skies to real flames. Pai had lost dozens of friends today.

The underground supply depot was probably the most unhealthy place to be in, with the numerous Uranium pallets piling up, even though the lead walls were supposed to contain radiation. Dozens of people were nonetheless huddling there, women hugging young children, crying softly for the deceased. It had been a tactical decision from the capsuleers to hit the nevralgic centers of the planet, and this meant the victims had been mostly young men at work. Of course, death was no stranger to such a danger ridden community, and people thought themselves hardened to pain. Sometimes, families lost people to depressurizations, tunnels caving in, or simply radiation induced cancers. Dangerous beasts would kill workers in the wild or on the ocean, However, it was quite different today. Not only had this fire storm come as unavoidable and unpredictable as God’s wrath, but it also had destroyed the living heart of the colony. The satellites had been left alone by the attack fleet until the end of the attack, allowing ground control to send out emergency signals. Commissioner Helden looked at Father Rentar squarely in the eyes and told him the truth.
-“If they had wanted to destroy them utterly, they could have sent foot soldiers or used nuclear weapons. This was more devious. They left the satellites up for two reasons, first to allow us to call for help, so that we may serve their terror agenda, and second, to allow us to see their might. They know we have streamed footage of their fleet to the Kingdom, but they don’t care, why should they? At worst, their corporation will lose some standing, which can be bought with some work. Anyway, maybe they’ll just pay handsomely for the damage to our royal shareholder. This was a message to our clients, not to the Kingdom. We’ll probably receive relief shipments in a few weeks, and the Kingdom will send new settlers later on. We’ll just have to keep your flock together during this dark time.”

Pai sat on the concrete floor. Father Rentar had preached tonight, and told them of the hard times to come. As if it was not hard times already, he guessed. Father Rentar was but a young man, 26 only, and he could not imagine how hard life had been for Pai. He came from Khanid Prime, and had attended the Imperial Seminary. The priest always had been a bit out of place to the workers, even if they put up with his high class mannerisms because he spoke the Word of God. But to Pai, this was the final straw. God had never willed this. Fate, God, or the spirits as the minmatar slaves used to say when he was young, had nothing to do with that wave of destruction. Capsuleers did. Hubristic, egotistical, monstrous capsuleers who live forever among the stars. His son, however, would never live another day. But he would have revenge. These capsuleers thought they were gods among the stars, but they were men. They jumped from clones to clones, but they were men. They used boosters that rendered the earthbound unconscious, or mad, or simply killed them, but they were still men. Pai had worked for 15 years in Bahani’s booster manufacture. He knew why, sometimes, boosters-using capsuleers did not make it to their new clones during a fight. He knew people who knew people on capsuleer’s ships. He would get his revenge. Or he would die trying. Anyway, he was already dead.