Silent Spring: A Space Opera

Introduction to the Galaxy, the Ship, and the Crew

"Ah, yes. The Milky Way Galaxy; an average spiral galaxy, its very form composed of billions of stars whose pulsating bodies of pure plasma emanate the light of billions of years of galactic history, where civilizations rose and died one after another in an endless cycle of death and rebirth, the ruins of some great empire fueling the advancement of another, who would then share the same old fate that befalls every civilization that has ever existed and ever will: destruction; cataclysm; extinction. From the glorious halcyon eras of the Sahroni Ecumene to the present day of the Tereson Hegemony and the Jiemeni Imperium, every nation and people will fall to the sands of time, their edifices of pride and glory thrown down and broken by the elements of the merciless galaxy. Except for us. We shall remain as these fools fall." - The Supreme Intelligence

Two great alien powers dominate the Milky Way Galaxy: the Tereson Hegemony and the Jiemeni Imperium. The Tereson are humanoid aliens, and they look a lot like the humans of Earth if not the cat-like characteristics of their ears as well as having a set of beard like whiskers on their chins and a prominent mane for the males. These catmen ruled a vast territory extending through the Sagittarius and Norma Arms, their worlds governed by system governors who in turn answered to the Supreme Chancellor of the Hegemony, a "democratically" elected leader that was in reality the puppet of the aristocratic upper class that lorded over the Hegemony as petty tyrants. Their shadowy council is the true governing entity of the Hegemony, holding sway over the Tereson and the enslaved lesser races as puppet masters by whose whims millions may die or live. Their beautiful cities and worlds are built upon the blood of slaves and by the whims of the aristocrats; it is not a fair society to be in.

In the opposite end of the galaxy lies the utterly terrifying and fearsome Jiemeni Imperium; huge, crustacean lobster-like aliens with a fearful appetite for other sapient life, the Jiemeni have conquered through much of the galactic west. Conquered species within the Imperium are subject to the annual "red harvests" perpetrated by the Jiemeni, where in as much as 10% of their populations may be taken by the Jiemeni to serve as their food. Sometimes, when a species has especially delicious flesh, they may be slowly devastated within mere decades, and should the local Imperial Offices fail to notice, may face extinction. Multiple races have been completely culled by this, and others teeter on the brink of extinction. The rest of the galaxy without a shadow of a doubt hold these crustaceans at the highest contempt.

All other territories in the galaxy are known as Wild Space; a region of space that is either uncharted by either superpower or contain a nation too strong for either empire to destroy without inviting the other to strike. Many regional powers strive for glory and riches in this galaxy of fire and death under the shadow of Wild Space. In the fringes of the Orion Arm, the increasingly powerful Solar Union of Man takes root, rapidly expanding its territory with sheer cunning and grit of determination as their colonies spring up like mushrooms in the south fringes. In the galactic core, the hyper intelligent artificial intelligences of the Gnoserun Collective, led by the insidious Supreme Intelligence, plots to bend the galaxy to their will in order to carry out the last wishes of their long dead masters: eternal peace by whatever means necessary. In the eastern fringes, the warfleets of the Archelian Technocracy strike out on their own, clashing with the naval forces of the Kalideam Union in an effort to gain supremacy in the east. Within the corridors of the three thousand kilometre long worldship known as the Undying Light, the embittered survivors of the destroyed Jotorun Republic, who now dub themselves the Joto Undivided, plot their revenge against the Jiemeni that consumed their brethren, starting out by raiding supply convoys of both the Hegemony and the Imperium from secret bases scattered all over the Neutrum Zona. The elusive psychically active avians have caused massive economic disruptions to the outer worlds, and failures mar the records of every commander that attempts to destroy them. Hidden within asteroid fields and gas giants, the wandering nomad fleets of the dragonid Sarufi and Alseri of the Sunblot Alliance have proven to an existential threat to expansion efforts from either powers; any colony fleets escorted by anything less than a full battlegroup risked total annihilation at the hands of these fire breathing and lightning striking dragons, whose powers of telekinetic control have allowed them to advance their technology even further than the Hegemony itself. 

Every species in the galaxy has its own language, but a single language has become the medium of communication between every single space faring civilisation. Known mostly as Galactic Standard, this language is incredibly simple and easy to learn. Usually, civilizations that had contact with the Tereson Hegemony or its predecessor, the Tereson Kingdom, taught Galactic Standard to their children in school. Even the elusive Jotorun used Galactic Standard, if not for the purpose of interrogating captured prisoners of war. While it can be easily taught, there is a nigh instantaneous method of simply injecting microbes directly into the back of the head, which would allow an individual to speak and understand Galactic Standard, but the after effects are sometimes dangerous, and are usually uncomfortable and confinement inducing.

The state of the galaxy is as a human author once said, "War. War never changes."

Now, we have to come to our motley crew and their old prison ship. The Silent Spring is a 120 meter long unarmed prison ship, designed for the sole purpose of holding up to 1,000 prisoners in its extensive stasis crypts. During its long tenure of service, it has held hundreds of thousands of murderers, criminals, thieves, and prisoners of war, ferrying them to the mining world of Starakre to a life doomed to end within several years due to the harsh working conditions in the mines. The ship itself has four decks.

The crew capacity of the Silent Spring is 75. There are only 25 crewmen in the ship due to some bureaucratic messes and clerical errors, and at the same time, far too many prisoners have been assigned to the ship by the fools back in the capital world of Teresonis, forcing the Captain to contain the excess prisoners in some of the crew's quarters, adding bars and locking the doors from the inside. 

To make matters worse, the crewmen of the Silent Spring have dubious loyalties; the Tereson X.O. was noted for pro-monarchy statements in the past, and the helmsman, the informations officer, and four of the ten marines are from conquered species, and were supposedly relegated to a lowly duty such as this. The Captain did not suspect a mutiny however. Predictable for such a fool, no?

He was going to pay for this mistake with his life... and that of a dozen others with him. However, one cannot say what this mutiny will come down into. Will they just be another bunch of pirates? Will they change the course of the galaxy's fate? Or will they die to the cannons of a Tereson warship?

Well, dear reader, we cannot say. Let us just see how this story unfolds... but wait ! We must know some individuals of special interest. We may call them our "cast", if one is so inclined to say so.

Let's join the Captain as he inspects the 20 or so extra prisoners that had the luxury of being assigned to a hastily repurposed crewman's sleeping quarters. Quite enviable for the rest of them, eh? The beds of the crew are quite soft, and the lighting is exquisite; such a comfy cell could might as well take their minds of their not-so-impending fate in the mines as they slept on down-filled mattresses and rested their heads. The Captain was wise in his selection, however. The most dangerous and potentially deadliest prisoners, amongst whom are some synthetics, have been locked in the stasis crypts, unable to move or wake unless if the cold of the pod recedes and the system coaxes them to wakefulness. However, the ones on the comfier cells are occasionally the dangerous type as well, but clambering through the bars with distasteful difficulty whilst being riddled with bullet holes is not the most pleasant experience to have.

On the first cell was a man. Yes, dear reader, I said that right: a man. This one was a human, an explorer in fact. Allegedly, this person's expedition was totally wiped out by marauders, and the derelict human ship that the Hegemony captured a mere month ago was the one where this man served as the helmsman. Looking over the records, there was nothing much on him. "Philip Van Hyden, arrested for trespassing on a military installation. Huh. What a strange name.", the captain said as he moved on to the next one.

A Jotorun cyborg, no doubt, the Captain thought as he looked at the avian's hands, which appeared to be composed of some kind of metallic alloy that was so strong that no cutter could cut it. This one was dangerous. The danger level that this "Corsair Lord" posed before was great to warrant the response of an entire taskforce; this Jotorun raider commanded a battlecruiser along with an escort wing in an endless escapade of looting and destroying, disrupting trade near Wild Space for years. Very little is known about the Jotorun; all that is known that their Republic fell three centuries ago, and those who survived fled aboard what was allegedly a moon sized worldship. If they did so, it was no surprise, as they, though they were a pacifistic race of scholars and learners, were supremely technologically advanced and were far ahead than either the Hegemony or the Imperium. Their ways of peace have doomed the bulk of their number to death, and the rest have become as warmongering and dangerous as their distant ancestors. This Jotorun was a prime example of that. "Kaleso Stravane. Under sentence for illegal experimentation, assassination, sinking multiple Hegemony vessels, and...  planet wide destruction.", the captain sighed as he finished. "Unbelievable. He looks so nice when asleep."

Here is another, yes, yes. My, what a mess this was. The drakonid humanoid Kalisi that stood in the cell was often snarling at the guards, growling in utter anger as his warm, fiery breath wafted through the bars and into the captain's nose, who felt the fire of the Kalisi in literal terms. Firebreathing mercenaries were what they were often found as, and it is not uncommon for a warlord in Wild Space to have Kalisi mercenaries as bodyguards. This Kalisi was once such a guardian until his employer's ship was boarded by a Tereson taskforce. His employer was charged with d**g trafficking and his entire retinue thrown into prison along with him to serve as expendable slaves in the near future. However, this Kalisi mercenary had other crimes as well. "Gomburzu Lieka. Sentenced for s****l assault, robbery, and eating an officer. Disgusting.", the captain noted as he hit his baton on the bars that kept Gomburzu prisoner. "Quiet, you."

There was a rather annoying sound of wailing and howling from the other cell. The guards stationed near this cell plugged their furry ears with their fingers; the Archelian inside seemed to hate this entire place so much so as to take the liberty to annoy all of the others nearby. The grey furred canine constantly grieved and wailed like a banshee, promoting the captain to slam the bars ten times to silence the exhaustingly audacious creature. "Silence, Gethae Greyvane.", he growled as he poked her with the baton. "Howl again and to the pods you go, so that your sentence for selling battleships to monarchist rebels will be the first thing you wake up to."

Finally, we come to the last one of any worthy note; a Jiemeni. From what the captain could gather, it seemed that this one had gone to Wild Space in a hunting spree, and ended up being captured by  Tereson patrols after being abandoned by her comrades. Either way, she was destined to the mines, just like every Jiemeni captured by the Hegemony. Or was she? "Ka'lam Yaku . You should learn well not to trespass enemy territory.", the captain snorted as he turned back towards the bridge. "Dauka, come in.", he then told the ship's X.O., who was standing nearby. "We are about to enter hyperspace. Ready yourself."

"Yes, captain.", Erekarh Dauka said with pretense as he promptly followed. "All is going according to plan.", he thought as he took his place in the bridge. 

"The crowns will rise once again."