08-14-2015, 08:44 AM
The brownish orb continued to grow over the next 5 minutes or so, until it became large enough to nearly fill the viewports in front of them. Features were visible. There were continents and a large amount of liquid water, but the liquid water had a brownish tint to it and was filled with what appeared to a blackish oil hue. Thick grey clouds orbited the world, and in the center of what he understood to be the Northern Americas, lay a crater. In the center of the crater lay the wreck of a great starship, still visible from orbit, spewing forth it's own light and blacking smoke into the atmosphere.
It had to be his.
Jackson spoke now, his voice laced with hatred and contempt. "Yes, this is your doing. Earth is in ruin because of your kind."
Medina shook his head. "This was not our decision. You forced our hand. We..."
Jackson cut him off. "You bombarded a world filled with life with nuclear warheads, and destroyed nearly all it's ability to support life. And then when you realized your fleet could not maintain control of the system, you crashed your command ship into the center of our republics government, venting radioactive material all throughout her descent. Look, emperor, the vents on the starship are STILL venting that material. You have killed earth. Killed it... and you claim to love life! To worship it? What a mockery you must be to your people..."
Medina shook his head. "This was not my decision. That falls on the interpreter of the speaker of the sky... you should judge him, not me..."
Jackson frowned. "We can't, emperor. That particular commander went down with his ship, along with his "speaker."
He said the word with such mockery. Such lack of respect. The speakers WERE the empire, the interpreters only carried their words. And yet they insisted on calling us the only thing they could find in their culture to compare us to: Emperor.
Emperor. The word was such a filthy mistranslation he did not even know where to begin...
When Medina spoke next, he spoke with a rage. "And that authorized you to do what? Return the favor? You boiled our oceans and brought death from the sky to our own beautiful Trisad. Homeworld of the empress! Birthplace of man and beast alike! I know it looks the same if not worse than this...
He was smiling. Fucking smiling!
He raised his voice to an outright yell. The cameras closed in on him. He ignored them. "You did this! You brought that destruction upon yourself by threatening our sovereignty. We are NOT your long lost "colonists." We are the descendants of Herne and Tria, and we carry in our hearts both their bloodlines, both their spirits and souls!"
He paused to catch his breath. "We are nothing like you..."
Medina seemed quite content to have that ourburst on camera. "Tell comms to prepare begin raising MARSCOM. I want this fed to the people Sol as fast as possible." He smiled. "Thanks for the show... doe fucker."
Medina could not express his contempt for that phrase. And so he would not. He would not fall again to the prodding that was clearly happening here. He knew that Jackson's comments would be conveniently edited out anyhow.
One of the officers on the bridge shouted out "Sir, MARSCOM is hailing us on an encrypted SOLSAT link."
Jackson turned from his smirk and brought his attention back to his crew. "Put them on."
"It's still a distant link sir, audio/data only." The officer elaborated. " Looks like a 15 second latency between pulses. Here's the first transmission. Prepare your response at transmissions end sir."
"Understood" Medina replied. The bridge filled with a sligthly distorted voice of an automated AI presence. "Unidentified warship. You are entering restricted starspace of the Sol Federation. Reason for the starspace restriction is being transmitted to you in binary little endian ASCII set of the English language. Please identify yourself if you are authorized for this deployment, or alter course immediately to avoid forcible and lethal course alteration from the Sol military."
The viewport screen filled with a HUD displaying relevant details. It had only two items of note, the system's name, Earth, and the status of the sector: MILQUAR. Medina knew what it meant, but he was sure it would soon be explained anyhow.
"MILQUAR is short for Military Quarantine, that's right, our planet is so polluted the inhabitants must now be treated as toxic waste... They can't even escape their own doom."
Medina held his tongue. He had plenty of ways he could compare several notable government figures in Sol to toxic waste, but that would only be used against him.
"Vengeance: Prep recorded reply." Jackson was speaking to the ships onboard computer. Now Medina knew the ship he was on: The Vengeance. At least they were taking his capture seriously. But why? He was a naval commander, he wasn't even involved in the war on nearly any level. All the combat had been on Terra firma.
"To whom it concerns, I am Captain Jackson of the Sol Federation. I have the prisoner, Identity classified. Docket number 0377. I am transporting him to Earth for trial. Request authorization for MAGDEF passage and to establish a sub lunar orbit..." Medina paused, and then declared "Vengeance: Terminate recorded reply. Transmit."
He grinned. "We aren't taking any chances with you. You are QUITE the article aren't you?"
He had quite a number of things he could say, but Medina would not fall for that again. He took on the air of a diplomat of the state, and did his duty. He spoke now with an official air:
"I am the supreme interpreter of the Sea forces of the United Empire of the Holy Doe."
He paused. "Since the other speaker and interpreters have passed, and the death of the supreme empress confirmed, my speaker is now the empress and may represent the empire. If my speaker is not with me, I have no authority to speak on behalf of the empire. Please bring her to me if you wish to speak of state affairs."
Medina had not wanted to bring this up. He knew what he would likely be told.
"Your "speaker" is dead, emperor. Standard protocol dictates we cannot transport livestock off system." He smiled. "Don't worry, it was quick. It was painless. I understand she was incinerated..."
His words faded off. Medina couldn't stop himself from shedding a solitary tear, but otherwise, he cut himself off from the outside world. He would not weep, not break down as they had planned. He had known this was coming since they locked him in that cell. He had already planned his response, and shed his tears in that cell days ago. He knew what this meant, and more importantly, what he must do.
"In that event, the laws of United Empire dictate that I, the last interpreter of Trisad, am the head of state."
He spoke the words with the kind of sadness that only death of a loved one could bring. He breathed out what would've been a sob, and uttered one last phrase "a most tragic office, and fully your peoples doing. I will not speak again until I see an appropriate representative of the Sol Republic."
He broke that promise only moments later, but only under his breath so no one could hear. The cameras would surely not pick it up. It was but a whisper... and yet a whisper full of rebellion and hate. It was all he could muster, and yet it would have to do.
"You people are monsters"
