Imperium: Contact

Chapter 1

The sky over Imperial City was bright blue and the sun glittered off the many skyscrapers that made up Earth's capital. Located on an artificial island in the South China Sea, blue waves lapped gently at its shores. One side of the island consisted of forest, interspersed with small lakes. The other side was completely taken up by the city itself. On the city's streets, people went about their daily lives. Merchants and business people, hurried from one meeting to the next. Tourists and shoppers sat on the patios of the hundreds of restaurants and cafes. Driver-less cars and taxis moved in perfect order and synchronization through the city streets. Overhead, Maglev bullet trains whizzed from one skyscraper rooftop to another. The vast majority of the beings in the city were humans. Although every once in a while an alien privileged enough to be allowed on Earth popped up amongst the throngs.

In the center of it all stood the headquarters of the Imperial Military. It was a massive building that towered a good fifty meters above everything else. A lush park with benches and several restaurants surrounded it. Around the park was a high security fence with armed guards posted at regular intervals. The main lobby of the building was a huge room that glittered with gold and platinum inlays covering the walls and ceiling. Massive slabs of black and white marble covered its floor.

As impressive as the building was however, it was merely the entry way. Beneath it was a massive bunker buried hundreds of meters beneath the surface. Composed of reinforced concrete and solid nanite armor, it stretched outward for miles, making it more of an underground city. The entire Empire could be run from inside for over six years without anyone ever having to leave it.

Deep inside the complex, was the server room used to store archived information for Imperial Intelligence reports. A massive room, filled with rows of quantum computer banks. Halfway down one of these rows, Sarah typed rapidly at one of the diagnostic stations. She kept glancing over to the door at the far end of the room. As a Major in the Imperial Intelligence service, she certainly had the clearance to be in here. However the last thing she wanted was for someone to spot her and start asking questions about what she was up to.

She tapped in a last line of commands and a warning message appeared on the screen. She ignored it and hit enter. Sarah checked the system, no sign of the files she'd just deleted. She switched off the console and hurried for the exit. As she stepped into the armored hallway beyond, her wrist pad beeped. She tapped it and a holographic screen projected from the device. Damn that was fast, she hadn't expected the military high council to convene this quickly. She reached into the pocket of her black and gold uniform. Pulling out a small data stick, she hurried down the hallway.

Major Sarah Clark walked towards the massive doors that led to the military high command's situation room. She took a deep breath and tried to swallow the lump that had been forming in her throat. She glanced down at the data stick she was holding. As an Imperial Intelligence officer, she was used to handling sensitive information. The information on this stick however, had the potential to ignite a firestorm. One that would destroy anyone foolish enough to get caught in it.

"And that's exactly what you're planning on doing," she said out loud.

"Not the smartest move you've ever made Clark."

She had reached the doors now. Sarah stopped in front of the retinal scanner on the wall next to them. She moved her face in front of it and waited. The scanner beeped and the massive doors swung inward to reveal the room beyond. The situation room was shaped like an amphitheatre. At the far end sat Admiral Constantine, head of the Imperial Military. He sat in a leather lined chair, an ornate oak desk in front of him. Slightly curved desks radiated outward from his position. The floor of the situation room sloped down towards where he sat, so the desks in front were always slightly lower than the ones behind them. Stairs ran down the center of the room from the doors all the way to the Admiral's desk.