Captain Mimak stood aboard the bridge of the Alliance of Free Planets Fleet flagship Freedom. He entered the turbolift to Admiral Penn's private suite. Admiral Penn was a in charge of the Alliance's sixth fleet, but received commands from the Alliance High Command on the capitol planet. Mimak was his de facto second in command, and pretty darn good at it. A voice in the turbolift announced "Floor 12. The Admiral's private suite. Password please". Mimak said the password "Roge", Penn's homeplanet. The door slid open. Penn was sitting in the Admiral's chair, with displays of the Freedom's position around his chair. Penn was an average sized human, about 1.8 meters. "Come in, Captain." Mimak gulped. "Yes, sir. You asked me to meet you here." Penn smiled. "Captain, you have a knack for pointing out the obvious." Penn stood up and turned off the displays of the current location of the Freedom, and turned on a display of the Meren Galaxy(the Alliance's name for the Milky Way). He pointed to a small, specific planet, outside of the Alliance's borders. "Captain, are you familiar with this planet?". Mimak looked closer. The planet appeared to have seven main masses of land, but was covered mostly with water. "No sir. Should I be?" Penn nodded no. "Its a small planet with undeveloped humans on it. This map of the Meren is brand new, I just downloaded it today. That planet has just been discovered, and the High Command knows a little about its history." Mimak groaned inwardly. Penn often sited historical facts. "The planets humans worship many gods under different religions. Most of them fight amongst themselves. The planet is not only divided religiously, but has many warring nations as well. These nations also war. This poor, strange, savage, and pathetic planet is much like our sector of the galaxy before the Alliance was formed, seperated in short. Under the requests of the Senate and Fleet High Command, the Freedom is ordered to this planet to put it out of its misery." Mimak was horrified. "Sir, do you really think its necessary? You said yourself, its like our sector pre-Alliance, we should leave it alone and let it develop." Penn shook his head. "You dont understand, Captain. Theyve been warring for centuries. Its not going to stop. In short, we have to stop it. Destroying the planet would be best for all beings on it. And besides, I dont give the High commands, I follow them." Mimak sighed. He couldnt win, not when Penn was like this. "Very well, Admiral. The name of the planet and its coordinates?" Penn smiled grimly at him. "The coordinates are in the computer. The planets name- Earth" Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape<i></i>
|