The Falaalian War

Chapter 1

I woke up to a faint beeping, I turned off the alarm on my digital watch and threw the blanket off of my body. A stretch soon followed and I turned my attention to the clothes in the closet. I groaned and got off of the uncomfortable bed quickly. After my feet landed on the steel floor covered with wooden tiles, I sluggishly moved towards the closet, half ready to get another day of work done.

"I believe I should start with how everyone's story should begin. I was born on a miner colony on the outskirts of the Falaal Empire. Humans call this day January 20, but my people call it Star Day. This day is the day that we can see the second sun from the surface. My parents named me Faraal, which means Star. I grew up in a miner city, everyone has forgotten the name of it by now. We all just call it "Second Land."

I was born into the third tier of the education system that we have. Basically, the day a person is born on, tells them which tier they will go to. First being the worst and forth being the best. My childhood was pretty normal. I made friends, lost friends, found love and lost it as well. I failed a class and was put down to the second tier. They mocked me for this, but I didn't let it get to me. Every day I just thought to myself, at least I'm not at first tier.

At last, I was free from the tiers and they put me into the pilot training program. As everyone that didn't have a disorder, disability, or other medical condition, was forced to become a pilot or another role on a space vessel. I was ordered to work on a cruiser-class spaceship and I did as I was ordered."

That was the shorter version of my journal. I was looking back on the things that I have written, missing my childhood. I sighed and closed the book, causing dust to fly towards my face. I closed my eyes unnecessarily, as the room was vented out of anything but oxygen. I reopened my eyes moments later and put the journal to the side.

I looked out a window and saw a strange vessel coming towards the direction of the ship I was standing in. It wasn't a small ship, nor was it a large ship. Possibly a cruiser, but at the time, that didn't matter. What did matter was that; one, a wormhole was just behind its engines and its weapons were pointed at us. 

"Get to your station Faraal!" the Captain ran into my room and barked.

I shakily put my hand to my forehead and said, "Yes sir!"

I ran against the cold steel that made up the floor of the ship and then jumped into the blue fabric covered chair, that was behind a large turret. I readied myself before I grabbed the two handles and moved my face towards the glass. I could see the enemy ship and I made the turret's barrel move towards its engine. The seat moved with the giant gun. I closed my fingers around the triggers on each of the handles. I saw the purple laser fly through space.

I waited for it to hit the engine, but it missed completely. I aimed again and fired three shots this time. Two of the lasers hit the engine and I saw the shield flicker. Then, fifty other lasers hit the hull of the enemy ship. They weren't the last. About two hundred more lasers hit every steel plated point of the ship, coming from our ship, causing the ship to look like a human delicacy called swiss cheese.

I yelled in excitement but was quickly confused as several small metal pods exited the wreck.

"Sir, should we shoot them down?" I asked, looking at the captain.

"Let them pass, they cannot do anything to us," He replied apathetically.

I nodded and scanned the ship with the turret's built in scanner. It was classified as a human pirate ship. I picked up a formation of letters, "USS Garrison." I disregarded this and watched as the ship exploded into several pieces. The hull of the ship turned into shades of yellows and oranges before the colors enveloped the metal of the ship. The colors quickly swallowed the bridge and engines of the ship. I watched in awe as this happened, but that feeling quickly passed as I remembered that it wasn't an AI ship. This was the first time I've destroyed a ship with an alive crew. I looked to the ground and gripped the handles of the turret tightly.

"What did I do..." I whispered.

I grimaced as I thought of what happened to them, the only thing that put my mind to ease was that most of them had a quick death. I sighed and reluctantly. looked back at the window. The ship was completely destroyed, only pieces of scrap remained. Even the pieces of scrap were unsalvageable. But what made my eyes widen was the fact that some bodies still remained, the scanner started scanning them automatically and brought zoomed in images onto the screen. I turned away and put my hands to my mouth, trying not to lose my only meal of the day.

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That was years ago. I had finished several missions and slowly my mind changed about what I was doing. What the Falaalians are doing, is wrong. I decided I couldn't take it anymore. I had two days ago shot one of the commanding officers, he was dead within seconds. The investigators eventually found evidence leading to me. Now, I was running down the corridor of a ship's hallway, my bare feet hitting the cold steel floor rapidly. I felt a great pain in my back and then I collapsed to the floor.

"Restrain him!" the Captain said as he handcuffed me.

"This is insanity! Those aliens are alive! Living beings, do you hear me?" I yelled at the Captain and he hit me with the butt of a rifle.

My head turned quickly away from the Captain when he hit me. I looked back at him, my eyes angrily staring into his emotionless eyes.

"Arrest him and put him in the prison bay. We'll deal with him at the capital," the Captain said unemotionally.

I was dragged away by two Falaalians, one male, and the other female. I spat at the male's shoe and he threw me to the steel tiles.

"Don't mess with me, traitor!" he yelled in my ears.

They pulled me off the floor and continues dragging me across the floor, my legs starting to burn from the friction, now being dragged on a red carpeted floor. I noticed the rooms of several of my past friends. Some of them were gone, but the ones that were there looked terrified. If I saw what I'd done from a different perspective, I would've been scared as well. But I let my anger overwhelm me, now I had to pay the consequences. They threw me into a small room with no door. They walked slowly to the panel on the wall near the opening of the room, just out of reach. When I heard the small pressing of the buttons, several lasers crossed from one side of the opening to the other. I brought my knees to my face and cried quietly, starting to realize what I did. And what I could've done.

~

One month later...

I looked up at the lasers, hating them more and more every day. They would only give me food once a day, and even then it tastes foul. The room only contained a toilet, that was almost broken. The walls cracked since no wall led to outer space and no one seemed to care. I was dressed in the same clothes as the ones that I had when I arrived. In this moment, I noticed something. It was the voice of a human, I looked up at the corridor that led to the bridge, just across from my cell. I saw two strange aliens dragging a human down towards the cell next to me. The human was dressed in a blue military uniform, camouflage shorts, and leather boots. Her hair was golden and she looked about my age. They dragged her and threw her into the room next to mine. The lasers coming quickly afterward.

I waited until the guards passed and then I spoke to the human, "So, you're new here."

"Silence, Falaalian scum," she responded.

I laughed softly, "I barely consider myself Falaalian now. I'm what we call, Shaali, our word for traitor."

"Then don't talk to me," she went silent after this, despite my efforts to try to talk.

Truthfully, I was desperate for someone to talk to. I thought I would go crazy, only talking to the guards, not even once a day. I laid down on the cold, plaster covered steel floor and slowly drifted off to sleep.