Taliesin Prologue

Prologue

         

Using the old Earth calendar the year would be 2652AD. Humanity is a galactic superpower and controls forty one percent of the known galaxy. Humanity’s rise to power, however, was not a peaceful process. In the late twenty first century the people of Earth were beginning to recover after the decades of global conflict, it was a war that had no winners and had left their civilisations in ruin. But it was at this time that first contact was made with an alien race known as the Ayriani, a remarkable race that could live for up to a thousand years with technology that far surpassed what humanity had achieved and they offered it all to the humans in exchange for a simple service.

         The Ayriani and humanity found themselves in similar situations, both races had recently been in conflicts that had ravaged their way of life, but the Ayriani had not fought themselves the way humanity had, they had fought and defeated a race they called the Immortals but it had cost them dearly. The Ayriani were a unique race, their nervous systems had been naturally infused with a metallic element called Diruthelium, and they could manipulate the radiation emitted from this metal when it was subjected to an electrical current, like those within their nerve cells. Using this radiation they could create fields which altered the physical properties of the objects within or changed the way external forces affected them. Every piece of Ayriani technology was based upon the large scale use of this radiation to accomplish otherwise impossible feats such as faster than light travel. It was revealed to humanity that all the advanced species in the galaxy used the effects of this radiation but that, unfortunately, diruthelium was not present, in a sufficient quantity, on Earth or any other planet of the Sol system, and as such humanity would never be able to achieve the wonders that diruthelium radiation provided without the aid of the Ayriani.

         The Ayriani did not reproduce in the same way humans did, their race had only one gender and they reproduced alone by randomizing their own genes and producing a child that was genetically similar to its parent though not a clone of them. Their evolution had limited them to producing only a single child in their lifetime, but for a race with their abilities and longevity it was beneficial as it removed the threat of over-population. However when the Ayriani fought against the Immortals many of them died and many of those had not yet produced a child and has such their race had become eternally diminished as they could not regain their numbers. Fearful that another war would obliterate them completely, the Ayriani sought out a race to protect them.

         They needed a race that was relatively primitive but would be able to understand their technology, they needed a race that could multiply quickly to provide them with an army and they needed a race who understood war. They found all of these prerequisites in humanity, and so with a promise of technology and that one day they would be independent, humanity accepted the Ayriani’s offer and became their army. Just over a century later, with the help of Ayriani medical science, the already relatively short gestation period of human reproduction, which had been shorten even further, the Ayriani’s human army numbered at over a hundred billion. The galaxy had never seen an army grow so large so quickly and the Ayriani found themselves in a position to use this army to further the goals of their empire, which is exactly what they did. Using humanity as both shield and sword their empire doubled in size in less than a century, something they never expected to achieve after the losses of the Immortal war.

         However, when humanity asked the Ayriani to keep the promise they had made a century earlier and grant them independence, they were refused. The time was never right; tensions with other races were always too high, the Ayriani knew that with their abilities each of them was a legion compared to the humans despite being outnumbered a thousand to one, and when the rebellions came the Ayriani thought little of them and believed that humanity would quickly return to their rightful place by their master’s side once they’d felt the sting of the whip. However, they underestimated the sheer audacity of humanity, how far each individual would push despite being insignificant in comparison to them, and how much humanity would sacrifice for their cause. The Ayriani were wiped out, some individuals may have survived but their evolutionary disadvantage would stop them ever becoming a threat again, and now their vast galaxy spanning empire belonged to Humanity. The race with the largest army and largest fleet now controlled the largest empire. It would have been the perfect time to live as a human, if only humanity hadn’t turned on itself.

         In 2349AD or 307AE (After Enlightenment) a civil war broke out within the human empire. A high ranking, influential General named Joran Khaine led an army against the forces of the Senate, his rebellion came as a great surprise as did the sheer number of men who had joined forces with him, and many now believe that he had planned his coup d’état decades in advance when he was only a junior officer, making alliances in secret with other like minded men of his rank, and had waited until he and his closest allies were at their most powerful and influential. At any rate the civil war was a bloody affair over ten billion died in the first year of the conflict and Khaine’s forces had seized thirty nine percent of the empire. At that point the other races of the galaxy called for a ceasefire and, thankfully, Khaine and representatives of the Senate agreed to meet and discuss terms.

         The talks were overseen by the Andeli, the Jeruk and the Nashdu and it was agreed that to end the conflict the Human Empire was to be broken into two nations. All systems that were still controlled by the Senate became part of the Republic of Humanity and the systems that Khaine’s army controlled became the Utopian Empire, as Khaine called it. To prevent future conflicts the three overseeing races demanded that both side sacrifice five percent of their controlled systems to create a neutral zone separating the two sides. The Neutral Zone would remain under human control but each system would now be independent and no ships from either side would be allowed to enter without permission from the three overseeing races, although both sides were permitted an Ambassador who would observe the region and ensure that neither side would transgress against the treaty.

          With no official governing body, the Neutral Zone became a haven for piracy. Colonies were left to defend themselves against pirates, no ship attempting to cross between two systems was safe, slavery was rampant and the lives of those in the Neutral Zone became very hard indeed. Yet with immigration to either the Republic or Utopia disallowed by the treaty, there was little the people of the Neutral Zone could do but make as much of their lives as they could and hope that they were the lucky ones whose lives were never ruined.

         Despite the treaty and the threat of a return to all out war, both the Republic and Utopia realised that the resources found on many of the systems in the Neutral Zone were incredibly valuable and had to be obtained in any way possible. The ambassadors from each side made attempts to negotiate trade agreements with the colonies that would ensure that their respective nations would receive a hundred percent of all goods, leaving nothing for the other side. But all this practice achieved was to drive up the price of the goods until neither side could afford them, and considering the amount of goods that were lost to piracy in transit, the situation simply became financially impractical for both sides. It was this that caused the creation of the highly unofficial Privateers.

         It was an idea that came to both sides at about the same time. As neither nation was allowed to send ships into the Neutral Zone to combat the piracy problem, smuggle goods which would be used to bribe the colonies into exclusive trade agreements, or accomplish any other task that was deemed necessary, they hired the pirates to do it for them.

         These actions were incredibly illegal, and should evidence of these arrangements ever find its way to the hands of the three overseeing races there would be harsh punishment for the side involved, but there was never any evidence. All initial contracts between the pirates and the ambassadors were solely oral and sealed with a handshake and all communication from that point on was done via secure networks, there was never any way to link the privateers to their new patrons and of course both sides were making the same underhand dealings so neither wished to draw attention to the arrangements, even if it would hurt the other.

         In exchange for performing any tasks given to them and extending the interests of their patron nation in the Neutral Zone, the privateers would receive fuel, food supplies, weaponry and upgrades to their ships, if not entirely new vessels. Becoming a privateer required a certain amount of notoriety, a crew had to be known and feared by other pirates but at the same time, trustworthy. Many crews set out with the intention of achieving this status and becoming a legend in the Neutral Zone while many others viewed privateers as scum, sell-outs and chained dogs that were only allowed off their leash when their master willed it. But regardless, it is a fact that the actions of these highly secret crews of men and women have played a huge part in upsetting the balance of power in the Neutral Zone and in the ongoing struggle between Utopia and the Republic for dominance over humanity.