Until Now

[FredM 0]

Strategy was key to the successful outcome of any campaign. Without this key element, while an objective might be achieved, it would likely cost more in resources than necessary. When discussing the most valuable resource to the Republic, people, strategy was something that simply could not be ignored. It was the only way it had been able to survive for all these generations. Yet in something of fiction come to life, the tales of elders about the second coming was quite possibly coming true.

 

Long before the contagion had spread throughout the Republic, science and technology had been growing by leaps and bounds. Exploration past the confines of their single planet had actually been achieved. Telecommunications and instant data networks had closed the gap from one continent to another. All people were coming together under a unified body. Historians had stated that their culture was about to break through to a place only fairytales could have imagined.

 

Then it came.

 

The Lexipub Observatory, used for mapping of deep space, projected back images that were simply too outlandish to comprehend. Energy discharges from two objects of some kind. Clearly not a natural phenomena, other satellites were trained on the items. As explosions and energy discharges continued to be recorded, the Republic Space Station was able to actually able to see the continued array of lights as they moved closer. One seemed circular in nature, with two long barrels connected to it. Apparently gray in complexion, it contrasted heavily with the greenish colored "wing" it was exchanging energy with. The ability of scientists to get a good view of this second object vanished when, without warning, it seemed to explode.

 

Then they came.

 

The gray colored object moved closer, clearly emitting and venting gases. Then something that would change their world forever happened. The RSS picked up a high band transmission from the object.

 

Information about what, at the time, was considered classified information had since become folklore in their society. As their people had already determined by this stage, the gray ship was in fact a spaceship with approximately forty lifeforms aboard, survivors of a crew of seventy-five. Led by a Captain Jay R. Wright, they explained to the leaders of the time that some type of intergalactic war was going on. The thought was so outlandish that some in the room supposedly openly laughed when they heard it. That might have had to do with the recent release of a theatrical film about just a fictitious topic. As described, Captain Wright and his ship named the Richmond were part of an alliance that were defending itself from a group of peoples called the Rumuleans. Simply put, their little war had ventured into the Republic's corner of the cosmos.

 

Strangely enough, when news about the arrival of aliens was made public, it was greeted with enthusiasm. Most academics had theorized that life existed outside of their own. After the good Captain Wright had explained the nature of their society, Republic leaders had agreed to help in any way they could to repair their apparently seriously damaged space ship. It was supposed to take, according to salvaged records, a single ewo.

 

One dero had passed without incident. Engineers and scientists attempted to help the Richmond crew refine an ore known as k'lia, or as they called it dilithium. In addition, apparently a majority of the craft had been flooded with ioa. Republic healers had developed treatments for ioa exposure when power supply systems went down. According to what Captain Wright had supposedly stated, they surpassed their own technology and so were applied.

 

The second dero was the first sign of issues. Workers assigned to the Richmond and working with crew in hospitals started developing "strange uncontrolled" movements within their nervous systems. Initially appearing similar to a disease discovered a generation ago, treatment was started and assumed it would work. However, when all of those affected died two deros later, the damage had been done.

 

As was discovered by the end of the ewo, the disease itself was airborne in nature. Referred to as a mutated version of "hydrocephalus" by Richmond healers, a lack of understanding about the nature of the contagion had resulted in measures being taken that actually allowed it to spread. Aeronautical trips planet wide were shutdown on the eighth dero; though when five craft had crashed into buildings due to pilots feeling the effects of HP, as it had been come to be called, most weren't traveling anyway.

 

Panic soon turned to chaos as societal structure started to break down. What seemed to only hurt maters was the clear lack of concern by Captain Wright and his peoples...that is until one of them fell ill on the twelfth dero. It was ironic they were planning to take their space ship home the day the pandemic struck them. As their healers, the only ones among them who had shown any compassion and attempted to aide the citizens of the Republic, stated later was that a person among their crew had apparently brought an illness with them that our civilization had never before seen. Mixing with native sicknesses, it changed into what was ravaging the planet.

 

Scientific and healer analysis eventually developed a way to stop the spreading, though the damage was already done. While some had apparently an immunity to the pandemic, as time moved on individuals seemed to survive longer than those previously. By the end of the third ewo, those infected were estimated to survive five or six dero before falling dead where they stood. By the time the method of keeping the disease from spreading was ready, over sixty percent of Republic citizens were infected or deceased planet wide By the time a cure was discovered on dero twenty-six, one third of the planet's population was dead and another infected.

 

Exactly what transpired next remains, even generations later, cloudy. On dero twenty-eight, as news of limited medicine available to healers started to become known, a section of the Republican Guard lead by Sub Admiral N'ero'io of the Eastern Dufen region activated reserves of the CVO Division. While the security forces had been mobilized several deros earlier, the emergency replacements had not. Under what some believe to have been falsified orders used to justify his actions, N'ero'io proceeded to try and seize control of two of the four facilities within the Republic that had started making the cure. When a forty mega-yu explosion was detected half a dero into the fight, mixed reports made it on the news. Some said the government had launched a projectile in desperation, to eliminate the Sub Admiral. Some stated that Lieutenant Commander Dunham, new leader of the Richmond people, had launched the attack. Meanwhile others had believed N'ero'io, in his rage and possibly due to a sibling's death due to the contagion, had decided if he could not control the cure no one would.

 

By the next dero, open civil war for the first time in over fifteen generations broke out. At the start, Lieutenant Commander Dunham attempted to remain neutral with his still half repaired space ship in orbit. One might have expected the rage of many against these creatures. When a one mega-yu projectile was fired at the hospital where most of the Richmond crew were being treated, most understood that neutrality was simply not an option. With all but apparently ten of their crew deceased, Republic officers took control of the Richmond. Whether this act was by treaty or force still remains a closely guarded secret. The repairs would take over sixty-two deros to complete, in large part due to a lack of resources. Many hoped the space ship might be used to end the war. However, unknown to most was that the last of the mega-yu weapons had been used to destroy the single rebel medicine facility developing the cure.

 

The intended effect was seen fifteen deros later when the Great Contagion War was over. The enemy had simply...fallen dead where they stood. Of course, the toll on the Republic was great. At least ten percent of the planet now featured such high ioa levels that no one would be able to visit it for generations. Even now, most remained untouchable for fear of a slow death. Of the three hundred and fifty billion Republic citizens, less than one billion survived.

 

By this point, Lieutenant Commander Dunham and his crew had all perished. Whether those that had not fallen ill to the illness had been executed remains an open question. Most historians had seen that the Richmond's mission may well have been to hurt the Republic. On the verge of making astounding scientific advancement, it was possible the humans and their allies were concerned about another power developing in space. So the Richmond was landed, where it sat being learned and studied.

 

Concerns about other space ships visiting were eliminated by learning of a compound common in Republic energy production that, when released in space, created a type of void for telemetry. Never again bothered, the Republic had slowly started to rebuild...generation after generation.

 

Until now.