Rise of the Star

ONE THOUSAND YEARS. James was getting old. The year was 1415. Once again, the empire set up celebrations all over. This time, the man was observing Garden... or a very small part of it. The Outsider had his avatar sitting on a cliffside, overlooking a beach where the celebration was in full swing. No more half-nudity as everyone there was naked and fucking was a prime course. Humans, Gull and Raff were getting it on in ways that the last great celebration could not do... mostly including a lot of piss and shit. Not an excessive amount, but more than before.

It has been... a tad slow. Relatively speaking. Astoria was still moving full speed ahead, but there were fewer events of galactic import. Or of import to the empire. Yes, a million plots were happening either on their planets, in their stations, involving them in the Galactic Forum... or in the space around them. There were lone ships with independent pilots that adventured out in search of fame and glory, some of them coming back with something worth mentioning. The research vessels have multiplied and were poking at every spot of the galaxy they could scan, though with more than half of the other empires closing their borders, they didn't have a lot of access. Thankfully, ever so often would something help things along. That wasn't even him orchestrating it, that was just the world going at being itself.

But it would take more paper than the empire had to list all of these other deeds. A billion things were happening in the empire and a trillion events were ongoing in the galaxy. Exciting digs by chief scientists that veered into adventures, political plots in those other empires and the Forum.... You didn't have much plotting to do in the empire and LIVE... many things that added and enforced the whole that was a star empire, one that had the population in the hundreds of billions at this point, and out of them, the interesting were so many that you had to seek out the extra-interesting just to not have to write an exhaustive list. The world is big.

Astoria was advancing at a steady pace, that pace quickening since they mastered terraforming and turned a particular planet first into a place you could live, then into a place dedicated to research, with science labs being built all over to study the big questions. Deliverance was quite a sight... the shaped mastery terraforming had turned previously unusable areas into ones fit for exploitation while keeping the land looking good. They got better and better, with breakthroughs coming more and more. Soon they would start pursuing some technologies slightly above the rest of the galaxy, finally catching up with most and beginning that climb. Yes, those that were focused on science were keeping up with them... the Technocracy was a good rival on the science scene and you could rely on them to vote in favor of science-focused resolutions of the Galactic Community. Almost there. He could see that particular technology just beyond the horizon. Just a few more years.

For the people down there, this celebration was more about themselves, how one thousand years after the Outsider's return they were in a place they could not imagine back then, and one hard to imagine even when the Genesis first set out into a neighboring system. His philosophy saw changes, but it was still more of the same. Defiance was still sacred and keeping everything in check. While it meant that people listened so things worked, when they went against the system there was no shame. Others relied on that shame to keep their power, to argue about insurrectionists and "ungrateful" citizens who brought complaints forward in the only way they were given the option. In other empires, things were hell. People were being casually oppressed, but enforcers kept the peace... often by using violence.

James thought of how his dream was coming true. Sure, it came true 1415 years ago, but this was getting better and better. He saw change where he wanted it and almost none where he thought it useless. Perhaps he was what directed the people even when the man would not actively tell them how to go. He saw very little linguistic drift, though it was easily arguable that such was done to not devalue older things... not just so James did not have to learn new terms. Yes, there were new things that needed names, but you didn't have them picking up terms to replace old ones. People did not call guns "iron", nor did they start saying "speedrun" instead of more sensible options... and neither were there any less-intelligent phrases finding their spot in natural language. Perhaps it had to do with the separation... how local culture did have a flavor, but to keep everything working you had to keep to a standard. Nobody was renaming things and thus you didn't have planets renamed into "pots" or such things.

But still, this was a dream coming true. An empire employing casual sex and achieving such harmony... okay, there were a few others also doing that, but the man was opposed to some things in their philosophy, like how the Voor essentially had a culture of free use. Astoria was the one that really had the right flavor he wanted... as neither of the aliens were into the toilet kinks on such levels. Perhaps that one was to blame on him, as they were still doing piss parties.

What was there left? Usually, he needed to get around to discovering the utopian infrastructure, apply it to all the planets, slap on the megastructures once those worlds produced impressive amounts of resources, and then just chill. How far were they to get to the infrastructure? Few more years... another century. But it was going to be good.

No, it was going to be amazing.

*

Naked bodies everywhere. Gilles thought this was a time to thank the Outsider for the world James guided them into. The man leaned against one of the drink stands while enjoying his newest refreshment... alcoholic, but with the recent clearant he could drink anew without any worry... tomorrow he'd be fresh as can be. Aphrodisiacs and supplements in these drinks let you also fuck much more often, thus his cock was hard again and seeking a target.

The drink was sweet with only a soft bite, the cocktail done just right by the automated drone. Since the robots couldn't quite enjoy these events yet, they were the ones working and did enough of a good job. They couldn't do everything, so the performers on stage were sentient. Gilles heard one set finish and decided to focus on the one performed now. It saw a lot of use all over, a song given to them by the Outsider to celebrate... almost a new anthem.

"Welcome home

Let me show you where I roam

Don't stray...

Well they build their walls

Yeah I rip them down

Ain't nothing getting in my way!"

It was such a beautiful home. Garden was a paradise. Weather controllers kept everything nice and pleasant... the summers dry and warm, the sun gentle on them, the mountain peaks had just the right cold to have snow for winter pleasures from snowboarding to simple snowman building... quite the place. Everyone in the empire wanted a vacation here ever so often.

"When the madness

Screams inside me

Someone's gonna hear my voice...

Welcome home, my friend!

Yeah we're gonna have a good time

Welcome home again

Come into this world of mine"

A girl looking just beyond her twenties came up to the stand that Gilles leaned on, her request being for a clearant. Nothing at all on her, the supple breasts and slim ass shown with no care, that pussy that might be such a rare sight in other empires there for him to observe without a worry, the girl smiling as she was checked out.

"Brace and see...

Take my hand and follow me

Don't stray...

And I want it all

And I will take what's mine

Ain't nothin' getting in my way!"

It was almost a pleasing result that the clearant solution made you erupt in piss, the girl turning on the bar stool, legs open as she burst out on the sand. Something was done to this sand because that pee just dissolved in it, leaving behind a dry and warm surface. They weren't walking on crap and pee even though the bathrooms saw little use. And if you dared drink that urine it had a remarkably sweet and alcoholic content, thus why people were doing it.

"Let it go!!!!!

We're gonna tear it up!

Tear it up tonight!

Tear it up!!

Tear it up tonight!

Tear it up!"

Instrumental tunes came from the stage, carried to them at a pleasant volume despite the distance. Something about sound engineering made them stop using extra-loud speakers, rather having everyone hear it at a good level, despite distance and interference. Even someone watching from the cliffs nearby could hear it well. The girl might swear she saw a momentary orange dot blink on that cliff.

"Welcome home, my friend!

Yeah we're gonna have a good time

Welcome home again

You're gonna wanna stay a while...

Welcome home, my friend!

Yeah we're gonna have a good time

Welcome home again

Come into this world of mine..."

Aliens started to heed that message. Even if their culture was so different, many wanted to come... and many were refused. Very, very few were present even at this event... the few that had business with the empire and had earned a modicum of trust. Those who ran from their former homes when those empires were horrible places to live, those that begged for entry... but coming to the empire was not easy and neither was it simple. People could not come and just expect their old way of life to be completely respected and reinforced here.

"So come into this world of mine

We're gonna tear it up

You're gonna love it!

We're gonna tear it up

So don't ya worry now...

We're gonna tear it up

You're gonna love it!

So come into this world of mine!"

Gilles decided to give this girl a go after only a brief exchange of words, the two getting down to fuck just a short distance from the stand, fucking eagerly on the beach like many others... ocean heard behind them, the sand yielding enough to their movements. Just another coupling in the thousands upon thousands occurring at this time, few to result in children or other bad feelings. A fuck on the beach with no strings attached.

It would last through the night, fueled by energy drinks and fast food, most participants having at least twenty sexual encounters through the day... some having over a hundred. If they were fast and quickly moved on to other partners like trying for a record. A celebration of their progress, their worlds, their culture, and all the little things that made life in the empire GOOD.

Most could not imagine it better.

*

Albert thought it was about time. The dog Raff sat at his desk while surveying the building site... an ambitious thing to say when he was looking at the entire area around him. Solaria was getting its reconstruction. Fifty teams were working all over the planet and he led number eight. It might still take a long-ass time to finish. They were fixing buildings at record speeds compared to what they could do before and yet a planet is BIG.

He had the luxury of watching things from one of the fully-restored buildings, the view from this penthouse allowing a full 360 degrees on everything around. Yes, it was fifty teams, but those "teams" might as well be armies. He had another fifty under them, and those had a full community in them. Each was working on a particular building in an ordered line. The brown-furred canine puffed at the cigar in his mouth and checked his live report compared to the sight.... The report was much more encouraging, but no doubt he would see it true if he went on a visit to one of the construction sites.

Not a lot to do other than direct things where they needed to go. This was a government project and he had all the resources thrown at him. Millions of tons of metal, concrete, glass, fuel, plastics, and machined components. The cost of this was astronomical, and yet they had it... extracted from dozens of planets and asteroids, bought from the galactic market, or locally manufactured. The view was getting nicer by the day and when it would be fully pretty he had to move on to the next sector.

The furry stepped to the window to watch how one of the skyscrapers was being restored. The automated scaffold did more than just give people a structure to stand on while working, it also fed them materials from the ground floor transports. Beneath them you could see polished steel and glass in contrast to the barely-restored metal above, still showing deformity and corrosion. Those things had everything they needed, including break rooms and lunch prep. He could use some lunch... and maybe fun to go visit one of those sites just for it. They make some really decent chicken wraps.

"Clara, you ever look at what you do and think how it's gonna be history?"

He addressed the woman sitting at another desk. The caretaker of this sector was the one to thank for all those comforts. She was only thirty years old, but the human knew her stuff. She answered without looking up from her portable computer.

"I don't think people do it until it's big. And I don't think you'd get a museum slot."

A chuckle from the Raff. He wouldn't want one either.

"Pretty big for us to turn this place livable again. Or more livable. Though we did well enough until this point. I might almost miss seeing ruins on my commute."

"You can ask an AI to adjust the view. It's been getting rather impressive. But I think this is a step forward. Now we can do better."

"Better is an underestimate. I've seen the plans on the new sectors. This place can hold financial districts like never before. Bit weird to me how you might need to build things in a special way for them, but it is as it is. And I guess I did see the reason."

You have to build offices rather than residential buildings, and those follow a different building code. You focus on services for quick gratification rather than life ones. Restaurants, not schools or shopping centers.

"Hope you're not going to miss having a blasted moon. You can see the terraforming efforts from down here. Kind of pretty."

"Oh, yeah. That too. Weird, ya know. When someone mentions 'moon' I can't help but think of a barren rock, but Lunaria's gonna have life on it. For when we get tired of seeing steel down here. Our giant park."

Not just life. The moon was the FIRST to be terraformed into a superhabitable planet. This was once a theoretical idea, as the various environments could be tolerable so life appeared on them, but the so-called Gaia planets had everything tailor-made to be acceptable to everything. Docile and friendly animals through genetic transformation, engineered plantlife to have a harmonious environment, and gentle seasons to allow for a pleasant experience. Lunaria was just a test, but if people responded to it well, every planet of the Empire would get this treatment. It would be another step in making the place a heaven. People could live better on such planets, work better, and even dream better. Threadway would get the same, even if they might disagree with such an idea. No, they deserved it as much as anyone.

"Living in great times. But I guess the better ones will be once we're done." The Raff thought. "You know, I think a lot about how it would be like if I was in the Junta. They might look to this place and think how many they could put here and the armies they could raise, or maybe turn it into one of their fortress worlds."

"And there might be others who wonder how it would be like to live on the alien planets. I've heard from the traders. They have some things better, but they're missing a lot."

"Outsider really is helping us make the best world. Anyway. Think I fancy some lunch. Want to go over to team 17 and check on them?"

"You aren't really going to check, are you?"

A smirk from the man. He would check a bit, but that was reflexive and minimal. The reports were true and everything was going so ahead of schedule that he might suggest some vacations. Maybe Clara could arrange for a trip to Garden. It might not be his job to care about their comfort, but the dog could do it anyway.

One by one, the buildings of Solaria would shine anew.

*

"Here we go again." Elly sighed as the identification was completed.

The bad news about living in a galaxy where aliens engage in more than the occasional trivial trades was that the border stations had to do actual border control. There were a couple of commercial pacts going on which led to a big amount of trade ships coming through, yet some would come even without such deals. If they meant no harm, no problem in a bit of under-the-table dealings... but the ship approaching was identified as belonging to Chir.

Flicking the channel open, the Gull anticipated this exchange to have a low chance of ending nicely. Still, she tried. One might admire the defiance of that empire if they didn't do it to spread misfortune. Since everything good was legal in the empire, with drugs having companies built around their sale as long as they were safe, they dealt in everything else... damaging drugs, ill-gained cargo, and even sentient trade.

"Approaching ship. We have you tagged as belonging to the Combine. Turn back or there will be consequences. The Empire doesn't want your goods."

No response. From her right, her colleague looked at the instruments to see how it went down. The human didn't need a high-chair, but Elly did well enough. Nathan was tempted to make a bet... though it was an easy bet. The ship kept its path toward the opposite end of the system.

"Probably gonna try to come through anyway. Hope they deal with that office soon."

"NA was better before they came to it. Heard from my cousin that they've been busting them left and right. Not even worth a judgment." A pause as she went on-channel again. "Approaching ship, your cloaking is not as good as you think it is. Turn back or we will open fire."

And she heard a response back through the channel, translated automatically.

"There are five hundred sentient assets on board. You wouldn't kill innocents, would you?"

And there it was. The bluff. That everyone would be better so they could take advantage of that. Boeawei station tried several approaches to such scenarios. Disabling the ship to possibly rescue those people was never a good idea... they were too far gone, or they would be executed to not give any further information on their operations. So, the solution was unpleasantly simple. Let no one say that they didn't have to make bad calls, but if such an act was questioned, Elly could throw volumes of records showing why she did what she did.

"We would."

Not even a moment was given for the other side to respond. The protective cover on that button was flipped and the firing solution had been calculated already. A high-power gamma laser shot toward the vessel, the energy overwhelming its shields and armor, cooking the inside until the ship went dead. The other problem was that you often could not confirm their words... they could be a bluff, just using that against them. But this was a needed effort to try and root out the crime syndicate from their worlds. A sigh from her.

"I kinda wish we could go and demolish them. I'd go gladly to war with those fuckers."

"Well, not everyone would. We've had these moments, but they aren't as unpleasant to the rest. Shame, really. I like to think that the Outsider is doing something to them."

James was not. As much as he'd want. It was SO tempting, but one could argue they had the right for him to not interfere. They were not cheating. Still, if some people might make the request, he could engineer some accident.

"Was that one of the lasers I heard firing?"

Angie came up behind them with a cup of coffee in hand. Her question was casual and might require nothing more than a "Yep." in response. The woman had approved the destruction of plenty of vessels from the Combine. The whole thing could go to Chaos in her opinion... but they were part of chaos, after all.