The War of Pawns (The Human Chronicles -- Book Three) (2 page)

As the Alliance began to grow, and other worlds were discovered, the Klin soon ran into a dilemma. The Klin found that all these inhabited worlds had civilizations at nearly every range of development, from stone-age hut builders, to sophisticated and complex societies with thousands of cities spread across their surfaces. An indiscriminate policy of inclusion in the Alliance would have both shocked these lesser-developed societies, as well as diluted the impact of the more advanced races. So the Klin developed a set of criteria that would first have to be met by a society before Membership in the Alliance would be granted. And prime among these requirements was that a planet must first be civilized enough to exist under one central government before membership would be considered.

This arrangement worked well for the other six Member worlds of the cluster, but not so for the natives of Axlus.

At the time, the planet consisted of thousands of independent city-states, each with their own form of government and cultural identity. The greatest of these city-states was Juir, a sprawling metropolis located on a vast alluvial plain between the Southern Ocean and the Kacoran Mountains. Over seventeen-million beings called themselves Juireans, and they existed in an almost constant state of near-fanatical devotion to their city and to its ruling class of heretical leaders.

Near the edge of the Eastern mountains, a vast section of ancient seabed had been uplifted over geologic time to form a low-lying mountain with what appeared to be a sheared off top. This was the Kacoran Plain. The almost-impossibly flat land atop the mountain was a hundred kilometers long and about seventy-five wide, and the natives of Juir used the prominent plateau as a training field for their considerable military forces, as well as for the mass ceremonies their leaders staged to instill awe and loyalty in the population.

And it was atop the Kacoran Plain that the city’s most powerful and sophisticated observatories were placed, their telescopes aimed toward the stars, and the other inhabited worlds of the cluster.

For several hundred years, the powerful telescopes of the Juirean scientists had been able to pick out bright, flickering lights on a few of their neighboring worlds, as the time of year and the season were right. They knew, too, that the lights from their own cities would also be visible to
The Others
. So when the astronomers began to track tiny mechanical satellites in orbit around their own world, they began to suspect that the moment of First Contact was growing near.

So it came as no shock or surprise to the Juireans when a module, ablaze with chemical exhaust, began its descent from orbit, and headed for the Kacoran Plain of Juir.

At the time of First Contact, Juir was ruled by a fanatical young leader named Malor Ra Unnis, the ninth Unnis to rule the city. With the Unnis family rising to power through the ranks of the military, Malor maintained an almost religious devotion to the discipline and structure that came with wearing the uniform of the Juirean Security Forces. So when his time came to assume the reins of power, Malor began a transformation of Juirean society into something that mirrored the caste structure of the military.

At first, many in the society resisted. Yet Malor was persistent – and relentless. Soon he had consolidated power in his rule as none in the line of Unnis leaders before him, and all through a combination of political tact and influence, as well as bloody and heartless pragmatism.

Malor was very aware of the unique nature of his rule, and when word reached him regarding the fiery object descending from the sky, he naturally attributed the arrival of The Others to the timing of his own rule. Nevertheless, he was still in awe of the significance of this event, and set in motion the plans that had been established many decades before in anticipation of the eventual arrival.

With a massive entourage in tow, Malor ascended the Kacoran Plain and traveled to the location where the alien spacecraft now sat. A grand stage was moved into place, and transmission crews set up cameras that would broadcast this momentous event not only throughout Juir, but to the entire planet of Axlus.
 

Since no one on the planet had any experience with the arrival of an alien spacecraft, the assembled masses waited patiently for the craft to open on its own. But after several hours, and still no activity, Malor instructed his scientists to approach the craft and attempt entry. And as they did, a tremendous sense of disappointment fell upon the assembled masses, and the planet as a whole.

The craft was unmanned.

But it wasn’t empty. Inside the alien spacecraft, a message was discovered, spoken clearly in the Juirean language. Then in a move that would later have profound repercussions for the entire planet, Malor had the cameras shut off so that the message could be played in private for only him and his most immediate confidants.

The message was a straight-forward invitation to join what was called the Cluster Alliance. As it was explained, the Alliance consisted of six worlds at the time, and as Members, all worlds shared in the benefits of advanced technology, medical discoveries, as well as financial prosperity through mutual trade. As a Member of the Alliance, the planet Axlus would become a brother among the other worlds in the cluster.

To Malor, it was like a dream come true. It would be under his reign that his people would escape the bonds of a single world, travel to other planets, and take their place among the community of civilizations. The name of Malor Ra Unnis would live forever in the annals of Juirean history.

Yet there was one caveat in the invitation: “Your world must be governed by a single authority before membership will be granted,” the voice and image of a creature called a
Klin
had said.

Staring at the image of the strange, light-skinned alien, Malor could find no ambiguity in the message. From all the locations on the planet to choose from, the alien probe had landed at Juir, and atop their most important military training facility – and at a time when Malor had just solidified his control of the city. To Malor, the message was clear:
The Juireans were the Chosen Ones
. The Others had cast his people, his city-state, as the rightful rulers of Axlus.

The Others – these creatures called the ‘Klin’ – were telling Malor it was his responsibility – indeed his duty – to unify the entire planet under one rule –
his
.

It wasn’t long before Malor began the most massive military campaign ever seen on the planet. The Juireans lashed out at all their fellow city-states, killing indiscriminately, and with such viciousness as to be almost genocidal. In the course of seven short years, Malor the Great – as he was now called – had unified the planet Axlus under the one rule required for membership in the Alliance.

To the observers in space, the campaign Malor conducted against his fellow natives was beyond belief. The peaceful Klin, in their naïveté, had miscalculated the meaning the Juireans would take from their message. In their experience, unification meant negotiation, treaties and a coming together for the common good, not genocide on a planetary scale. As the wars on Axlus proceeded, the Members of the Alliance became ever more appalled and disgusted with the Juireans, and their barbarism and savagery. This was not the outcome they had expected.

Eventually, there came a time upon Axlus when Malor the Great felt he had fulfilled the terms for membership set forth by the mysterious Klin. There was nothing left to do now but proclaim the unification, and for The Others to finally make their appearance.

It was called The Proclamation Ceremony, and it took place atop the Kacoran Plain, at the sight of the first landing.

Several million Juireans had gathered atop the plain for the Proclamation, along with billions more from around the planet watching transmissions of the event. Technicians had constructed 100 powerful spotlights around a massive stage, encircling the original Klin spacecraft and aimed into the sky. The brilliance of the event was staggering, and designed to be easily seen from space, including by any observers in orbit around the planet.

So with music playing and gigantic flags waving in the soft breeze, Malor the Great slowly climbed the 100 steps of the stage and took his place before the podium. Then with ceremonial sword held high above his head, Malor’s voice echoed around the planet and into space, as he recited the words that would change his world – and his people – forever:

“I, Malor Ra Unnis, hereby declare this planet united, and proclaim that from now and evermore it will be known as the planet
Juir!
” A tremendous cheer erupted from the gathered throng that lasted for several minutes before Malor could continue. “We are now united as a planet, and as a culture, and as the supreme ruler of Juir, I hereby demand membership in the Cluster Alliance, as promised at the time of First Contact. Come, land upon the planet Juir. We Juireans (more cheers) are ready to join you!”

The rest of the night was spent in celebration; music, mirth and intoxicants, and a spirit of hope and transition that had never been felt before to such a degree. The people – now the people of the planet
Juir
– were happier than they had ever been. An era in their existence as a race was drawing to a close, with a bright new future about to begin. For the billions of Juireans, each held their own vision of what wonderful new future lay ahead.
 
At this point, all the blood that had been spilled to reach this moment in time was an acceptable price to pay for the emotions they were feeling.

The Juireans knew The Others must have been watching them throughout the Unification Wars, as well as the preparations for the Proclamation Ceremony. They knew, down to the depths of their souls, that the aliens would also have been preparing for their own arrival. And so they waited that night, with every Juirean across the planet knowing it was just a matter of time before The Others would soon drop out of orbit and descend to the Kacoran Plain…

But as daybreak came, and still no arrival, the most-weary among the revelers began to disperse and head for their homes. By mid-day, the crowd of several million was down to a few thousand, including a completely humiliated and furious Malor the Great.

Where were the aliens? Why had they not come? Was it simply a miscalculation on his part as to when they would be arriving, and that in a day or so, The Others could descend from orbit and welcome his planet into the Alliance?

Whatever the reason, the moment never came.

Within a few weeks, there was such a terrible backlash over the entire Proclamation Ceremony and the Unification Wars that Malor feared for his ability to maintain control over the angry masses. Several opposing groups began to make noise concerning his effectiveness as a leader, and that maybe it was
his
role as leader that was keeping the aliens away. The growing discontent and rebellious nature of the people of Juir could not be tolerated, not if he was to retain his position.

And so Malor lashed out with his still-considerable military force, battle-trained from the seven-year Unification Wars, to squelch any pockets of rebellion. The following three years were brutal, as Malor consolidated a power base he never imagined he would have to. As anger and hatred grew in Malor’s heart, he saw the vision of his future quickly slipping away. He would not be
The Immortal Juirean
, the greatest of the great, with statues and other monuments built in his honor. Instead, he would be the Beast, the Juirean who killed millions of people – and for what?

And now he had to wage war against his own people again, just to maintain his throne. Every waking day was a constant reminder of his betrayal by the Klin.

 
It was during his struggle to retain power that Malor began a massive propaganda campaign to direct as much of the pent-up anger and resentment among the populace away from him, and toward The Others. Through a constant barrage of messaging, Malor told the people that it was The Others who deserved their scorn, especially the Klin. It was they, and not Malor, who should be held responsible for this insult to their entire world. As he explained, so many millions of Juireans had died, and all for a promise from the Klin that never came true. It was the Klin who were responsible for this debacle, not Malor.

Eventually, the message began to take hold, and the people of Juir soon acquired a seething, almost insane hatred for the Klin, a feeling that would last for thousands of years.

Within four years of the debacle that was the Proclamation Ceremony, Juirean scientists had managed to reverse-engineer the technology from the original space probe sent by the Klin, and built the first practical interplanetary spacecraft of their own. The first of these craft lifted skyward, heading for the nearest of the Alliance planets, a trip that would take 17 months. However, the trip was never completed.