The threat
By Christine

Capt Jason was just about to finish the fifty-first mission. He looked out the window of his tiny spy ship at the planet below, CentauryIV. He sent a message to the Eight fleet grand admiral Shanya. “Last outpost has been found. The traitor Abu is here with his fleet and the rest of the rebel sect of Orions. The beacon has been activated. “ A tight smile spread across Jason’s face. The long civil war was about to be over and then peace would reign though the galaxy.

The orions, he thought with disgust. They were crazy religious sect that his government has declared enemies. Government Caricatures depict them as hooked noses, bent frames and molesting women. The government told people that they steal, murder and plunder populations. During the first fifty years of the empire, hundreds of billions were sent away, never to return and the remaining Orions went into hiding and a few built up fleets to resist the government.

This was the last outpost of their resistance. After the civil war was over, he would be free to marry the empress’s niece. He earned his time off for this.
***

“Captain Julian?“ a voice called from the portside crew pit. “We just received a message from Capt. Jason. “

Julian, leaning over the shoulder of a new trainee at the new colossal commandships engineering monitor ignored the shout. “Trace these new lines for me” he taped his light pin on the schematic on the display.

The engineer threw a questioning look at Julian. “Ma’am?”

“I head the man.” Julian said. “You have an order.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Captain Julian.” The voice repeated, closer this time. Keeping her eye on the display Julian waited till she could hear the sound of his footsteps. Then, with all the regal weight that thirty-five years spent in the Imperial fleet gave to a person, she turned and straightened her tunic.

The young officers brisk walk faltered and abruptly halted. “Uh ma’am” He looked into Julian’s eyes and his voice faded away. Julian let the silence hang in the air for a couple of heartbeats. Long enough for those nearby to notice. “This isn’t a slave auction at a remote outpost, Ensign Tachal. This is the bridge of an Imperial battleship. Routine information is not--repeat not- simply shouted in the direction of its intended recipient. “ Her voice was calm but icy cold. “Is that clear, Ensign?”

Tachal swallowed, “Yes, ma’am.

Julian nodded and said, “Good, report.”

“We received a message from Jason, it’s for the grand admiral. The last outpost has been found. The traitor is there with his entire fleet. Jason has activated his beacon. “

A tight wolfish smile spread across Julian’s face. This was good news indeed. “Good lieutenant. Continue your duties. I will be back soon. “ She turned and headed out the door. If procedure frowned on shouting across the bridge, it frowned even harder on interrupting the grand admiral’s sleep by intercom. One spoke to her in person, or one did not speak to her at all.

She didn’t know what the grand admiral did with her long hours she spent in her personal office that she had constructed soon after taking command of the flagship of the imperial fleet. The empress promoted her the esteemed rank of grand admiral only a few months ago. ‘Perhaps’, Julian thought to herself, ‘ she was about to find out.’

She entered the hallway and approached one of the red suited guards that protect flag ranks of the Imperial fleet. She stated formally, “There’s a personal message for the grand admiral. “ The guard nodded and opened the door for her. She proceeded though the protected corridor and at last, saw what she did.

Her eyes adjusted to the darkness in the room. She saw holographic images surrounding the naked grand admiral sitting in the center cross-legged. Julian saw her commander’s eyes open. She looked up from her displays, “Greetings Julian. What is your message?”

“Capt Jason has found the last outpost of the orions. The traitor Abu is there with his entire fleet. He’s activated the beckon. “

The grand admiral smiled and pressed a switch on one of her counsels. The image of Jason was replaced with a new holographic image of the galaxy with a blinking circle where Jason’s beacon was. “So there it is, captain. Proceed there at once.”

Julian opened her com and gave the orders for the fleet to enter hyperspeed.

Then suddenly the grand Admiral asked, “So what do you think of Jason, Julian?”

Stunned by the question but Shanya didn’t hide that she has a fascination toward Jason. She didn’t understand it herself. He was cute but very small for a twenty-five-year-old man. He had an almost, effeminate look about him. He had a very tiny body for a male. Face soft face and he styled his hair very femininely. “Well ma’am, I don’t know what to think. He’s a good officer, I guess. Why do you ask?”

The grand admiral responded, “Because I’m thinking of a new project. Jason is perfect for it. We could name him Jennifer, don’t you think?’

Julian was getting confused and stammered, “But that’s a name for a female, Admiral Shanya, why would you change his name?”

She responded evenly, “Because of our new project. Jason would look great as a woman. I certainly have the authority to order it. Jason has the perfect frame and build. The transition would go perfectly, don’t you agree?”

Julian let those thoughts go thought her mind for a few seconds and then stated, “Well yeah, but he’s engaged to the empresses niece. What do you think Jason’s response to it will be? And what of the Empress, wouldn’t she be displeased?”

Shanya simply said, “I have been in contact with the Empress. She has no problem and of Jason’s feelings, I don’t care. I am his superior officer. He will obey or be thrown in the brig for insubordination. “
***
Julian peered though a window looking at the spiraling vortex of her ships traveling thought hyperspeed and then, suddenly she felt the ship slow.

“Grand Admiral, we have CentauryIV right in front of us and the last remnants of the Rebel Abu’s fleet is there with them. We finely have them!”

Shanya said, hiding no satisfaction in her voice, “Good. There’s no need for subtly here. Open fire at will. They’re trapped between an anvil and a hammer.”

It was over quickly. Abu never had a chance against the awesome power arrayed against him. His ships destroyed one by one in fury fireballs.
***
Jason docked his ship in the command ship just as he saw the landings and the black troop ships of the Imperial Inquisition squads go though the atmosphere to round up the Orions.

He stood in front of the grand admiral as she presented him with a medal. He thought he would get some leave but she simply ordered him to his cabin.

Ten minutes later he was alone in his cabin and wondering when he get some leave.
***
“The scout ships have returned from their scanning mission in the Athos arm of the galaxy. They found an undiscovered planet that has intelligent life, a kind of civilization with primitive industry,” Said a junior grade officer to the captain.

She took the report and looked it over. She said “looks like it is at least worth giving further attention.” I will give a report to the Empress. Send a dedicated scanning fleet to the edge of that solar system. Do not enter the system. Record all transmissions emanating from the planet and send it to me. We will call this undiscovered planet, Solarus.
**
Four weeks later.

A monstrous battleship was heading toward colossal spherical station. A small shuttle flew out of the docking bay silently. The pilot stated briskly, “Doomgiver, you are commanded to lower the deflector shield immediately.”

“The deflector shield will be lowered when we have confirmation of your identity. Transmit your clearance code now,” was the reply and the pilot felt sweat trickle under her collar. Her passenger wasn’t in the mood to wait. She looked back to see the black clocked figure glaring with her glowing eyes at her.

Her trembling hands danced over the keyboard keying in the sequence code.

The controller on the other end, in the bridge of the Doomgiver looked at his readout with disbelief. What came back with the confirmation code was the very symbol of the Empire. He looked at the display for several seconds before it hit him, who that shuttle was transporting. The Doomgiver captain came up behind him, wondering what the holdup was for this shuttle was. They both said in unison, “The Empress.”

He said in a firm voice, “Code accepted, proceed to the main docking bay.”

The shuttle engines flared up and sped toward the enormous spherical station. The pilot could see hundreds of thousands of small fighters orbiting the station in honor of the empress’s arrival. The shuttle silently entered the docking bay. She could see enormous columns of troops standing in ridged formations. The shuttles ramp lowered. Captain Julian and Grand Admiral Shanya were standing in front of the enormous columns of assembled troops.

On top of the ramp, the praetorian ran down and poised themselves in two lethal rolls at the bottom of the ramp in watchful guard of their ruler. Then a dark clocked woman appeared out the doorway of the shuttle. She looked malevolent and cruel. Her face was darkened under the hood but her purple glowing eyes seemed to burn holes in whoever she looked at. She started moving down the ramp with absolute confidence and power, a twisted cane taping as she walked down. When she reached at the bottom, the two commanders knelt to their dark ruler. She beckoned to the two, “You may arise.” They stood up and started walking in between the assembled troops. The empress said, “You have done well, Shanya. I have studied the reports of this new planet and I have foreseen that it will become important strategic possession for the Empire. I have come to supervise the conquest personally. This will be one of the greatest conquests since CentauryIV.” She cackled and the evil sound reverberated throughout the great hall.
***

Shanya and Julia were at a meeting onboard the Doomgiver battlestations war room. There were hundreds of officers and a few flag ranks attending. In front of them all, were a team of elite army commandos assigned to Jason. There was a holographic projection of the planet they named Solarus in the center of the room.

Shanya started the meeting, “The Empress has ordered us to begin preparations for this absorption of this planet into our great empire. This planet is what we are focused on. An undiscovered planet, this is what our empress has commanded to be absorbed into our empire.

“This planet is roughly thirteen thousand kilometers at the equator. Around seventy percent of the planets surface is covered in salt water. Its landmass is distributed between six continents. There are roughly two connected continents at each hemisphere. The planet also had roughly eight billion intelligent inhabitance and they seem to be very violent and warlike. They have, by consequence, caused much misery and death among themselves. they have formed separate nations on their planet that war against eachother by various alliances. Shockingly, these beings are exactly like us, humans. We need to find out how this came about.

“Their weapons are weak by our standards. Their most powerful weapons are primitive fusion bombs and ballistic missiles but they are still devastating in an atmosphere. Our intelligence would also indicate that several of their nations have vast arsenals of such fusion weapons. Enough to wipe themselves out, and that is their plan when all seems lost. A stupid military doctrine called, MAD: Mutually Assured Destruction.

“They have achieved the power to propel ships out of their gravity well. Small and medium craft routinely orbit their planet in high orbit and they seem to have sent several ships to their own moon. They have also sent manmade satellites to neighboring planets. They have has thousands of satellites orbiting their planet. The satellites do anything from send info about military movements to porn to spying and global positioning. They do seem to have built a small station in high orbit.

“The empress has ordered closer observation in preparation for our main landing. Capt Jason will land and provide the direct observation we need. His orders are to find out their exact capabilities to oppose our landing, and what their likely response would be to diplomatic overtures to willingly join us unconditionally. He is to find out who they are, what they have and their attitudes and customs. He has some leeway: it is fully up to him how to proceed. That concludes this meeting. Victory to the Empress.”

The officers replied in kind.
***
The grand admiral called Jason into her office for a meeting.

She started the meeting, “From what our intell has said, Their culture doesn’t seem to have learned that women can be just as good and in many cases stronger that their male counterparts. They view women as week silly people, mostly interested in material things or looking pretty. Males on that planet view women mostly as sexual objects and not taken seriously. Would you agree?”

He nodded, “Yes ma’am I agree. “

She said evenly, “Since they view women as unthreatening, I order you to go as such. You have the build and frame to make a very convincing woman. You have the skills to defend yourself with lethal force. How you proceed after that is up to you. Now you are ordered to report to doctor Ryan for the transformation.”

He stammered, “But, but Admiral, you cant be serious. “

Her face hardened, “I am very serious. Its weeks till your marriage and you wouldn’t want to be thrown in the brig for insubordination, would you?”

He snapped his heels and said, “No ma’am. I will report as ordered. “ Turned on his heels and walked toward the ships infirmary.