New Oslo

[Michael Hobbar]

10/3/2758
1300 Hours
70 degrees farenheight
Ringeriksveien street, New Oslo

If someone was to ask what anyone’s favorite star national holiday it’d have to be “Republican Day” The celebration would last on Earth for three weeks, celebrating democracy, the right to free speech, capitalism and the political system. The colonies especially those in the outer systems only had a few days worth of celebrating, due to the need of getting back to work. They did celebrate, but could only do so for so long it might hurt the planetary economy. That was what was the official reason, the real reason though was because over the past ten years the outer colonies were afraid that ARM or some other terrorist organization might attack some how. But with ARM now long gone, there was little to worry about today. The city of New Oslo was crowded with hundreds of thousands of people. Some people came to watch the parade but those who did not show up for this would celebrate at home with their families. The street was lined on either side with city police dressed in their black and blue checkered uniforms. Along the police were barricades in case a float accidently drove into the crowd or in case someone got too close. The high rise buildings had decorations on them of all colors, but the most popular were blue and white the colors of the star national flag.


City hall of New Oslo was also packed with politicians from the city and the planetary government. Each planet had it’s own leader, who were answerable to the governor of the outer colonies, who in turn was answerable to the leadership back on Earth. However local government made most of their own decisions when it came to their own planet. But they still had to obey the official government. The Republic Civil War in the 2600’s proved to all the colonies that the government on Earth had star national authority. President Svante Sørensen was standing in front of a podium with multiple media outlet cameras hovering around him with reporters standing down in front of the podium. There were seats for them but most of the reporters chose to stand. ISN was the official media for the entire Republic but each star system also had it’s own planetary news outlet, and then there were the local news station.


Stataca Interplanetary News was there and local town and city news were present. No one held cameras but rather they floated above the reporters and were automated. Some of them got a shot with the President and the reporters, others just zoomed in on Svante. President Sørensen spoke in Norwegian. “It is a great day for the citizens of Stataca and the United Colonial Republic. Today we mark the founding of the Republic, which was found during the birth of our first colony. We must also remember how people took enormous chances and risks finding the colony of Arcturus. They had to make do with what they had for over a year before being found by the navy. That is what we must remember. The planet of Stataca is a world of economic growth and prosperity. We have our own identity, our own culture, our own language. The United Colonial Republic allows this freedom for each of her colonies. Last year our GDP increased by twenty percent and the planetary economy has soared. The recession is easing overall in the star nation. I do think that when it is over, we will be a stronger people. Our freedom is not easy, but people have the choice of choosing their own representatives in the government. We are free. Let the parade begin!” The speech was then translated into English again with the president speaking.

As he spoke again, the parade was started. Multiple floats went down the street, showing local business’s, popular politicians’ had their own floats. The Special Security division on the planet also came out in their jet black dress uniforms. But most people booed them. As the last boos came, a loud thunder was heard. It got closer and closer, finally people looked up. Three formations of twelve shuttles each in a triangle passed over the crowd. Each formation had twelve shuttles. They saw naval atmospheric shuttles flying low but just above the buildings. They were followed by the three formations of twelve Sparrows flying a little closer to the buildings. Three of the Sparrows got closer to the street and opened up their ramps. On board navel personnel threw out gifts to the crowds. The gifts that were thrown out were multiple kinds of candy, copies of the UCR constitution, copies of the forty five amendments’, Torahs, Bibles, Qurans and of course copies of everyone’s favorite movie of that year “Kale’s Child”. The film was about cloning and how the clone had to find it’s creator through the hardships of life. Of course under the law, clones were illegal.


As the Sparrows flew off, another loud noise was heard above. Four formations of thirteen vultures, flying low. As they did people grew more excited, because that meant that the troopers would finally be coming! The entire division were in their dress uniforms. The band came first playing star national songs and the crowd screamed even louder as their excitement couldn’t be contained. Each regiment was passing through based on it’s number, and each company was passing through on it’s letter. Unluckily for Kilo Company they were arriving when the press decided it’d be good to show the faces of troopers. The automatic bots flew ahead and in front of Kilo. Captain Jones had a camera flying straight in front of him. He kept a straight face. Four cameras were hovering around Lamond for some strange reason. Each of them getting closer but not close enough for him to grab them. Hobbar felt like punching the camera that as following him and he put on a fake face. Sadly none of the troopers could grab any of the cameras, they were too smart about staying out of arm’s length. None of the troopers had any sort of weapons on them. It was not allowed. The only people with weapons were the police officers keeping people safe.

As the parade continued, one of the police officers looked over his shoulder at the troopers. His heart felt as if it would explode It was beating so fast. Even if he only got one person, that would be enough for him. He knew what he was about to do. Turning around he unholstered his side arm and fired. Two rounds went into one of the troopers, the neck was hit as was the head. The body then fell straight down. In a matter of seconds there were screams from the crowd, and the police officers tackled the one rouge officer who had fired. The troopers halted and checking each other to see who was hit. Silva ran over and Zhour was standing over the body. “Manning was right next to me when he got hit. Damn.” Zhour didn’t cry but his voice did crack a little. Captain Jones called the company off of the parade route. Officers then escorted them to a near by restaurant which was just large enough for the entire company. Some were weeping loudly while others didn’t say anything. The crowd was now dispersing not wishing to see anymore of the parade. If it had gone on longer, the armored units would of arrived. But the entire division was ordered to return to the base. However Captain Jones requested that his people have some sort of breather before going back to base. The restaurant was very large. It’s walls were a light blue with French doors out into the large back patio where tables and chairs were. They all had umbrellas on them. The floor was a dense wood as was the outside. The inside had a bar and there were also other tables and chairs. The food and drinks were for free if anyone did order. It was a Danish establishment, although many members did not care for food at the moment.

[Wei Zhour]

Zhour sat in one of the few chairs that were empty. He sat alone sitting at the table, not really looking at anyone in particular. He decided it’d be best to leave the others alone, he needed to gather his thoughts on what had occurred a few moments ago. The image of Manning lying down on the street couldn’t escape his brain. He couldn’t get it out of his head, at least not right at this moment. Why on all the days did something like this have to happen? They were going to be in a parade and everything was going so well before than. Nothing bad happened at all , the president and mayor were estatic about the parade and this just had to happen. It seemed to him that….maybe people had a false sense of security now that ARM was gone.

They might have been gone, but they clearly still had supporters among the population. He wouldn’t doubt if most people in the outer colonies supported the agenda of ARM. It was reasonable, after all Human Corporation didn’t treat workers fair. People were often under paid, unions had very little if any effect on the work environment and the hours were long. A waiter had come by earlier and offered him something to eat or drink, but he just…couldn’t eat anything at the moment. He kept trying to get that image out of his head.

[Creator]

Hancock System, Stataca, New Oslo, Energy Department of Human Corporation
December 2, 3358
2145 Hours

Gerry Black had just finished up another memo on his personal computer when a small window on the screen popped up. It read: “Mr. Howell wishes to see you in his office.” Black sighed. It had been one of those days in which nothing had gone right for him. He woke up late, on his way over the cup of coffee he had with him spilled onto his nice set of pants. He hadn’t been able to meet a client in time before she left. All in all he had a crappy day. At least there was the elections to look forward to. Gerry Black was a man who at the age of 36 had had the same position for the Public Relations Office of the Energy Department of Human Corporation. He liked his job and it had decent pay .He had managed to have a nice sized apartment and had been married for he past four years and had two beautiful twins a boy and a girl. His wife Susan was a excellent mother and usually took care of the kids.

Getting up from his desk and making his way past the multiple desks full of other public relation workers who were writing reports, talking over the phone or one of the endless tasks that had come with the Public Relations department. Black was a man who at 5’4 looked almost non descriptive. His hair was a light brown and his nose was small, as were his lips. There just wasn’t anything unique looking about the man. He could pass for a line up and never be picked out that is how common he looked. Opening the door to his boss’s office he saw Mr. Howell sitting at his desk with someone sitting in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. He didn’t recognize who the other person was however he realized that he was with Special Security. The jet black uniform was not to be mistaken. The office was not that amazing. Grey walls with no pictures, and the lighting was not that bright. One artificial plant over in the corner that would always be green. The dark grey carpet complemented the office. “Please sit down Mr. Black.” Howell said and stood up placing a hand in front of him showing Black the empty seat.

Black began to get into the chair and said “Mr. Howell if this is about the Kunil business deal I can explain-” but a hand from Howell was put up instead. “It’s alright, you have a much more important assignment. This is Mr. Trammel from Special Security Investigation. He has a interesting problem and thinks you can help solve it. Mr. Trammel if you would please.” Howell said and gestered his right hand to Trammel. “I’m sure you’ve heard about New Saigon on VL-624?” he said. “I’ve heard one or two things about it on the news, I didn’t really pay attention. Some scientists are there doing research on the place before the planet can really be colonized right?” he said. “Yes. New Saigon was founded a little over a year ago. Around May of this year the colony stopped transmitting regular data. We would of sent a relief expedition but the military was caught up in the rabble with ARM. Mr. Black we’d like you to accompany one company of Special Security personnel and one company of Special Drop Corps personnel to the planet. The colony has over five hundred people this includes the one hundred and twenty Special Security troops.” Trammel then smiled.

Trammel had a large brown bushy mustchae with dark brown curly hair. His nose was very big he looked like he was in his late thirties. “Now I’m sure this may come as no surprise to you but the reason Human Corporation was due to satellite scans of the planet. The Energy Department detected a high volume of some sort of energy spike on the planet. The scans could only detect the energy, they were not detailed enough to tell us what kind of energy it was .Nevertheless this is the reason and the only reason the colony was established. Mr. Howell if you would please.”

Mr. Howell then opened his drawer and pulled out a slim folder and a data chip. “This is all the information of the colony and of the planet. Needless to say there is not that much here to analyze.” Mr. Trammel then continued "Mr. Black your job is this , One: The protection of the colony. This is to be done at any cost. This includes data from the colony, electronic records, written records. Any plant, animal or being that is alien to the planet that is inside the site of the colony is included. Two: The retrieval of key personnel these are listed in the documentation we have provided you. Three: Do not under any circumstances allow these personnel to be placed into the custody of the SDC due to the sensitive nature that they have knowledge of the local area and the colony. Special Security will transport them away. Mr. Black you are not to any circumstances tell the SDC the orders we have given you. We will provide you with a second file of what to tell the SDC personnel. They cannot have access to SS or Energy Department records within the colony do I make myself clear? If you comply with the job that you have been give, a sum of four hundred thousand credits will he transferred into your accounts. We have transferred the first two hundred thousand credits to your bank account. Mr. Black do you have any questions?” Mr. Trammel asked Gerry

Gerry was still getting around in his head about what he was being asked to do. Basically go and save the people but keep the SDC in the dark. But it had to be done. If the military knew about why Human Corporation was on the planet of VL-624 there would be severe consequences. It was against the law for Human Corporation to finance a colony but not tell the real reason why the colonists were sent. The colonists were supposed to of been told the reasons why they were settling the planet. Any profits that were made from the founding of the colony would also be given to the original colonists. That is the way planets had been settled for the past two hundred years. If the colonists were not told the real reason about why the reason for settling, then they had the right to sue, and the government would launch a full investigation. The Office of Colonization would also launch a separate investigation and members of the central board would be indicted for crimes. It had only happened once and the company did everything it could to avoid it.

Black knew what had to be done. “May I ask a question?” he said to Mr. Trammel. “Of course, we wouldn’t want you to go into the dark now would we…of course not.” Trammel said. “What will you really do with the colonists? What if their communications are broken and cannot repair it. ” he asked. Mr. Trammel smiled, his bright white teeth showed, and he chuckled. “If the case is that there is something wrong with New Saigon and that equipment can be repaired then yes we will take care of it. The SS and SDC will stay with the colony and we will send the proper equipment to make sure everything is in fact repaired. If there was some sort of viral outbreak from say the Jankul Virus or a local disease from the planet then they will be taken aboard the S.S. starship and placed within quarantine. You shouldn’t find this assignment to be difficult to accomplish. The truth is we don’t know what is happening at the colony. It could be a number of things: Disease run rampant, some terrorist attack, equipment failure. We haven’t heard from them since last May. We have no idea what is going on. And we want to send you to make sure the colony is safe. ” He said to Black.

Black knew what they’d really be doing. But it had to be done. Human Corporation had to make sure it wouldn’t ever again investigated by the Office of Colonization. Yes, the survival of the company was more important than the colonists. If the company was investigated then they’d find out about the energy department’s illegal bribes of planetary political officials and blackmail. Hundreds of officials would be sacked and who knew how many credits the company would have to pay in restitution? He would make sure the SDC never found out the real reason why the colonists were sent. “The cover story, tell me the gist of it.” Gerry asked and leaned back in his chair.

Howell spoke this time “The Colony was founded due to over population concerns among the outer colonies. The planet VL-624 had an abundance of natural resources in the Alpla-Zero-Zero-One system. It’d also be a prime area for a new colony due to the four worm holes that have been detected in the system, this is not counting the wormhole to Hancock. From there we could establish more colonies and the planet would see a large influx of migration to construct stations and build the infrastructure. The planet would also allow descent among the outer colonies to drop who see Earth and the Inner colonies as bureaucratic idiots who won’t allow freedoms within the Outer Colonies. You and the military along with the S.S. are being sent to the colony to help them with whatever went wrong."

" And if it requires the colonists will be removed from the colony, they will be taken to Stataca. We will then in the next few months investigate what went wrong and send a new colony along with the original colonists. On December 29, you will report to the S.S. base here on the planet who will have advanced notification to expect you. You are to tell them the truth of why the colony was founded. On January 8, you’ll report to the SDC base and board on whatever ship is commissioned to investigate. And do not tell the military the purpose about why the colony was founded, use the cover story.”

Black nodded slowly and sighed again. “I will do my best to clarify the situation within the colony. I just hope that the colonists don’t have to be taken care of.” And looked at Mr. Trammel who had the face of a statue and was expressionless . Black was handed by Mr. Howell the chip and small manila folder containing both the false cover story and the real story. Slowly he walked away and closed the door.