Ch 89

Chapter 89

The planet Strathon was the centre of trade for the

Strathon System. Each and every citizen of the Loeric Empire filtered through

here to either reach the far-flung borders or the Beyond.

Bounty hunters, merchants, explorers, and soldiers were

just some of the few professions one could find in the urban sprawl that

encompassed a significant portion of the planet.

Trillions of humans called this planet their home,

surrounded by buildings that kissed the sky as they levitated, the city

designed in a three-dimensional fashion. Scores of hovercars, loop trains and

small starships flew between the gaps in buildings and over the cities, forming

a non-stop transportation network.

The planet was a far cry from the dusty hot surface of

Athen. The temperature had been perfected. While the cities of the planet were

the main feature, there were plenty of cultivated forests, parks and rolling

fields for people to enjoy. Thanks to advancements in technology, citizens

could choose between living closer to the bustling city, or out near nature in

idyllic homes.

Of course, nature was not ‘natural’ per se, but a result of

extreme terraforming. The entire Strathon system used to be a

slovesa-controlled system more than two centuries ago. With its perfected

climate and temperature, many companies and travellers decided to visit this

port and even establish a permanent presence to exploit the resources left

behind by the slovesa.

Millions of ships passed through the various orbital

spaceports every day, with the largest being the size of a planetoid. Known as

The Cloud and supported by gross amounts of anti-gravity technology, the

mushroom-looking spaceport loomed dominantly like a miniature moon around

Strathon. With a hundred thousand ports, the scale of the operation was

humongous. Millions of employees worked the spaceport.

It was definitely a far cry from the spaceport of Athen, which

only handled a maximum of two thousand ships each day. The logistical

difference between the two was incomprehensible.

Though it was not the only spaceport present on Strathon,

it was the most significant one and where all the current military garrison of

each Legion was berthed.

It was here where the five Dynasties of the Loeric Empire

concentrated their military forces to create a coalition border defence fleet

against the slovesa and criminal activity. Many habitats and living spaces on

the spaceport were dedicated to each of the Dynasties and their respective

forces, with all the expected amenities as well.

Every merchant in the region dreamt of owning a space on

the spaceport, to flaunt to their friends that they made it up the social

ladder. The literal hub of trade of the ‘south’ of the Loeric Empire, the

planet Strathon was a far cry from the relatively lacklustre Athen, which only

served as a resource and manufacturing planet, fuelling the rampant consumerism

on Strathon.

Oliver frowned as he stood on the bridge of his luxury

spaceship, a simple fast ship with the amenities to last three months. The

bridge doubled as a viewing deck, allowing Oliver to watch as they slowly

approached Strathon and its various spaceports.

Despite the technological advancements of humankind,

faster-than-light travel was not able to function within star systems. Human

ships still had to rely on sublight engines to push them through the star

system, which could take anywhere from a few hours to a month from the centre

to the rim of the local star system depending on their orbital trajectories and

the technology of their engines.

The two planets of Strathon and Athen were not that far

apart, but this meant that Oliver had to spend close to three days in travel to

visit Strathon. Sure, there were faster ships that could finish the trip in

less than three hours, but they were for the rich.

Despite him being at the top of Athen right now after

dethroning Cardenia, he still lacked such resources. Therefore, he frowned as

he prepared himself for the upcoming meeting, which was critical to his current

authority and power as the owner of Athen.

He was about to meet the secret party for the first time –

someone who had been supporting him in the background to prevent the Dynasty of

Hawthorn from clamping down on him ever since he overthrew Cardenia. It was the

Imperial Prince Zachary who somehow managed to arrange such a meeting.

“Sir,” a young man stood behind, saluting him. He wore an

enforcer uniform with the colours, though there was a slight difference

denoting that he was from a space branch.

“Leonard, what’s the issue?” Oliver smiled gently at his

grandchild.

“We received a request from the other party to dock

directly at their private space hangar.” Leonard Athen replied stoically

without a tinge of emotion. If Ceres was here, he would be extremely shocked to

see Leonard Athen this prim and proper. It was as though someone had performed

brain surgery on him to finally shut him up from talking too much.

Completely different from his usual dishevelled self that

Ceres was used to seeing, Leonard looked like a dedicated ship crew. Right now,

he was effectively the secretary of Oliver Athen.

Oliver was slightly worried. He had originally intended to

park at a specially allocated hangar that his acquaintance had helped to set

up. The security detail and information were already all planned in advance in

the event he was attacked, yet this threw him off-guard.

Oliver had always played it safe as much as he could. He

understood humans only had one life, and he was no different.

What if the other party had malicious intentions, and

either kept him hostage or killed him? However, due to all the benefits, he had

received over the last five years since Cardenia was ousted from power, he

couldn’t reject the offer lest he angers the secret party.

“Accept it. Recalculate the ship’s trajectory and proceed

anytime.” Oliver finally ordered, not wanting to waste any more time or show

much hesitation. Showing weakness in a first meeting was taboo for Oliver, who

had spent a lifetime handling such business transactions.

[Warning: Ship undergoing automatic deceleration.]

“Sir, please strap in for deceleration,” Leonard advised,

himself strapped into the seat.

Oliver’s starship had been travelling at a breakneck speed

to be able to close the distance in three days – the ship needed to decelerate to

match orbits with the Cloud, or else they would swing right past it.

Oliver nodded, strapping himself into a nearby seat which

began to undergo automatic rotation, aligning it parallel to the thrust of the

main engines.

The starship began to flip around using its gaseous

thrusters, causing its main engines to face forward along its path of travel.

With a roaring sound that rocked the starship, the main engines kicked in and

Oliver was slammed back into his seat. He gritted his teeth as he felt the full

force of inertia slams into his chest, but the chair’s unique gel helped to

soften the impact.

Oliver groaned as the deceleration lasted for more than a

few minutes, his body beginning to ache and his vision going slightly dizzy.

The chair automatically injected a stimulant into his body, reliving the pain

and reducing the stress he was feeling.

He barely let out a chuckle when he thought of how the

Dynasty members got around in their high-speed personal ships. Genetic

enhancements and years of training had made most immune to high accelerations.

If they were in Oliver’s position right now, it would be like a breeze to them.

The viewing deck showed the holographic trajectory of the

ship deviating greatly, with the path now pointing to a more luxurious section

of the Cloud. The spaceship gradually moved along at the specified speed shared

with the local coordinators, ensuring minimal collisions or accidents.

The deceleration finally ended, with the starship flipping

back to its original facing, allowing Oliver to see in front.

As they neared the spaceport, the sheer scale of it amazed

Oliver, as this was his first time visiting. He had never been on a spaceship

apart from the colony ship that went to Athen, and that was when he was barely

a kid, the memory vague.

Millions of drones that acted as tugboats helped to guide,

push or pull spaceships out of the respective berths and hangars that stretched

all the way into the spaceport like a honeycomb. The especially large ice and

agri-haulers with thermal-blanket-wrapped asteroids required hundreds of drones

to slowly ease the ship out and into the spaceport.

The existence of these drones reduced the attitude control

requirement of large spaceships, as it was quite cost-prohibitive to ensure

accurate pointing with the immense mass and inertia. Many of these ships only

ferried cargo and people between known systems, hence they could rely on the

local drones when they entered orbit.

Humans of all kinds wore spacesuits with cables attached to

them to prevent themselves from drifting away, retrofitting or performing

repairs on ships that limped here from the Beyond. Some of the ships suffered

from charred and dented armour plates, signifying a fierce fight.

Other ships had complete sections torn out of them, the

damage far beyond the capability of the spaceport to repair. Oliver saw one

ship that looked like a space monster had taken a bite out of it on its side,

making him wonder how this spaceship even managed to survive.

Many of the ships that treated this port as home were

mostly mercenaries and soldiers, heading to the frontlines of the slovesa

territory to fight.

It was a non-stop skirmish spreading out across the entire

border of the Loeric Empire, hence rewards were plenty for every inch of ground

and every planet they took. Some mercenaries signed on in the hopes of wealth

and fame and the chance to own their very own land on a newly cleansed planet.

The Cloud brought space logistics to an entire new scale –

with billions of packages being continuously distributed both up and down to

the planet, fulfilling the ever-growing consumption needs of the urban planet.

Millions of drone ships that continuously delivered to and

fro flitted about, forming something that looked like a shoal of fish, swimming

in the darkness that was space.

Oliver couldn’t help looking at one of the largest starships

in view: a slovesa capital ship. The five-kilometre-long oblong

asteroid-looking ship was actually a deadly vessel, capable of wiping out many

human starships at once from a far distance.

It was even considered a herald of destruction if spotted

in orbit, as countless slovesa and their spawners were held within. No border

colony could fend off such an invasion on their own.

Yet here lay the slovesa capital ship, with all its former

glory and lustre gone, chunks of it stripped and mines for its rare metals and

exotic resources to be used in a never-ending war of expansion against the

slovesa.

Despite the meticulous mining, the exterior of the ship

never truly lost its original shape, kept as one of many trophies to serve as a

testament to the Legions’ skill in space combat.

Soon, Oliver’s spaceship reached the luxury quarter of the

Cloud, enabling him to see the decadence of the Dynasties and lesser nobles in

all its splendour. Statues in the image of their creator or owner, while entire

villas surrounded by lush green fields were displayed under large separate glass

domes, allowing one to enjoy the view of space while being protected.

Each of the large domes that could house a thousand

represented a single ‘room’, and Oliver’s ship sailed to one of the docking

ports of a ‘room’. As it reached the hangar, a low buzz could be heard as the

ship entered past the energy shield of the hangar, which also kept the air in

as much as possible.

Two large magnetic clamps latched onto the starship, and

Oliver could only hope that the other party that he was about to meet would be

friendly enough to not cause him too much trouble. The ramp of the starship

opened below, with Oliver walking out with his entourage, Leonard following

closely behind him.

“Greetings, Mr Athen. Thank you for arriving on time,

however, our master is still not ready to meet you yet, so I would like to give

you a brief tour of the place before bringing you to our waiting area. If you

would please follow me.” A kind butler bowed in front of Oliver, flanked by

four exosuits.

Oliver noticed that the exosuits in front of him were of

much better quality than the Athen Defenders that he had brought along –

Dynasty exosuits, one of the best in the Loeric Empire. If just one of those

exosuits were to fight against his security team, it was almost a guaranteed

loss for Oliver based on sheer firepower and technological advantage.

Yet Oliver did not reveal his thoughts in his body

language, simply nodding and following the butler, as though nothing had fazed

him so far. They walked through the massive hangar, where a dozen other

starships were also docked in place.

Oliver noticed each of the starships had a very unique

design, some could almost be called perfect in design. Most were sleek and

well-furnished, providing a lustrous glow as Oliver could not help staring at some

of the starships they were passing by.

All of them far outclass his starship in terms of cost and

design alone. Oliver wondered who else was meeting the lord at this time.

The butler noticed Oliver’s glances before smiling gently.

“These starships all belong to our lord, who has a unique hobby in collecting

starships. Specifically, these starships used to belong to his former rivals

and business competitors, as well as the crime lords he apprehended. Our lord

loves to look at them from time to time.”

His expression froze, and Oliver barely nodded in acknowledgement

before walking. He now knew he was considered a small sewer rat in terms of

power in the Loeric Empire, but to see the power manifested in front of him was

another thing altogether. Who was this secret party?

Despite the blatant presentation of wealth, Oliver kept his

expression stoic, not revealing any of the turmoil and the gradually sinking

feeling that he felt in his heart. He followed the butler out of the hanger

into a large resplendent central hall, decorated with paintings and shiny

jewels at every nook and cranny.

The Dynasty of Hawthorn’s red and green were the main

colours that adorned the walls, ceiling and floor, accentuated with lines of

gold, while the emblem of their Dynasty was plastered onto the floor in the centre.

The emblem featured an axe, with the head of the axe

imprinted with a red rose while the handle was coiled in green thorns. Oliver

was all too familiar with it, having lived under multiple owners of Athen all

from the Dynasty of Hawthorn. Was it one of the elders?

Two dozen butlers were lined up, receiving Oliver into the

hall as he walked around, this time unable to control his expression of awe. If

Oliver did not know any better, he might have believed that this was the Loeric

Emperor’s palace instead. Yet this was barely the hall of a successor of the

Dynasty of Hawthorn.

Oliver’s security team naturally have not experienced this

level of splendour before, their eyes darting everywhere as though they only

had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit a holy relic. The ceiling had

glass that showed the stars clearly, the sunlight from the local star streaming

through, causing the floor and emblem to glisten like marble.

He noticed a few accolades and awards on display. They

featured a holographic video of why the award was issued, which showed valiant

battles fought against the slovesa both on the ground and in space. The battles

all took place near the frontline against the slovesa. Oliver began to realize whom

he was about to meet, gulping in his throat as he stared at a portrait of a

valiant admiral leading a fleet.

Assuming that this was the main audience hall, Oliver and

his team began to slow down, but the butler turned and beckoned to them to

follow him. They walked out of the central hall through one of the exits,

opening up to reveal a single path that stretched through a large field of

grass. The sky looked boundless – it was a mere glass dome that separated the

air within the hard vacuum of space.

The countless starships and reflections of the planet shone

like jewels above, while the large field of green grass extended for a

kilometre in either direction. Oliver noticed humanoid figures numbering close

to a hundred performing gardening work in the distance, trimming the grass.

The path was made of marble, leading to a single

palace-like structure at the end. The butler walked down the path with Oliver

following him closely behind, taking extra care to not step on the grass.

The palace structure was built with yellow marble, making

it seem like a mix between pearls and gold bars. A large emblem sign hung from

the top, the red and green colour visible again.

Oliver glanced again at the humanoid figures, some of which

were near the palace. He was amazed at the scale of the robots put in place to

merely manage the garden.

The grass was cut to a meticulous height, all equal and

upright at the same angle. If one were to look closely enough, one would notice

that each blade of grass was separated by an equal distance, the soil being

perfectly level.

Oliver almost gasped in shock when he noticed that the

gardeners were not robots – they were all humans. Yet none of them showed any

signs of being enslaved nor forced to work - they instead took it with pride

and showed great care in their work.

He internally shuddered as the scale of grandeur continued

to pummel him. Oliver knew it was a tactic to make him submissive, to

understand how small he is.

And so far? It was extremely effective.

Soon, they reached the end of the path, reaching the stairs

that led up to the palace.

“What a wonderful sight, isn’t it? To see humans working

tirelessly in the pursuit of perfection for the greater good. Don’t you think

so, Oliver?” An eloquent voice floated down from the top of the stairs, causing

Oliver to look up at the source.

At the top of the stairs was a tall young man, dressed in a

formal grey suit with a green ornate cloak flowing behind, dashed with streaks

of red marking the colours of the Dynasty of Hawthorn. The emblem was clearly

shown on his chest, pinned as a badge. His lapels on the shoulders marked the

high rank of general, signifying his service record in the Loeric Empire’s

military.

An air of importance surrounded the young man, while his

eyes shone with brilliant intelligence and fiery ambition. Oliver noticed

certain similarities in features between Cardenia Hawthorn and the young man,

but it was overshadowed by the sheer presence the young man exuded. One could

not simply ignore him on sight.

The butler and the four advanced exosuits hurriedly knelt,

while Oliver and his security team gave a deep bow, despite still not having

fully ascended the stairs. “Oliver, come up.”

Oliver resumed climbing up the stairs, but when his

security team tried to follow, they suddenly felt an innate terror stemming

from the young man, who simply glanced at them, before looking back out to the

grass field. The security team immediately retreated, knowing that they could

not afford to offend the young man even to do their job.

Reaching the top of the staircase, Oliver joined the young

man and looked out over the field. The view was spectacular – the green grass

field struck a deep contrast against the darkness of space, with millions of

sparkling dots moving in tandem across the planet.

“Amazing, is it not?” The young man asked gently, his voice

soothing in a charismatic way as he held a photogenic smile. “Technology has

advanced so far since our ancestors left the gravity well of Earth, and here we

are, more than a thousand years yet things really do not change.”

Oliver did not reply, slightly confused as he tried to

understand what the young man was looking at. Was it not just a garden? The

young man glanced at Oliver’s face, chuckling.

“Despite your age, it seems it has not hit you yet. Do you

know why I hire humans instead of relying on automated robots to perform all

the tasks you’ve seen so far?”

The young man simply reached out his hand, pointing at a

random gardener far into the distance with his index finger, before suddenly

clenching his fist. At the distance, Oliver only heard a small ‘pop’ sound as

the gardener’s body exploded into a bloody mist, and vaporized into the air,

the red colour staining the green grass in a gruesome outward pattern.

The scene bore a striking resemblance to the colours of the

Dynasty, causing Oliver to gulp internally in shock.

“Because there’s a certain quality of submission that

robots can’t fulfil.”

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