“Captain Took’Sar, the new cycle of guards is waiting for the green light to depart for the planet’s surface.” A staffer said, kneeling with head bowed on the bridge of the Scaladorian ship.
“Approved. Send them down and we'll leave soon as the last rotation is on board.”
Captain Took’Sar hated running the change of guard for Narax, but part of climbing the ranks was the obligatory acceptance of duties nobody else wanted. It was possible to spend your entire career in comfort on a core world, but the pursuit of power was often lost when people became too comfortable.
The worst part of commanding these missions was how long it took to get from point to point. With the rarity of Gravitrum, it was hard to justify spending the resources on a relatively short jump that had no immediate need. The reality of the situation was that it was much simpler just to order the entire contingent of guards into cryosleep and have their shuttle wake them up once they were on the planet’s surface.
What was one more offense to the enlisted? If they hadn’t learned to expect being screwed over by their government and their command, they would learn when they arrived on planet to find the forty-five solar cycle didn’t begin until boots on ground.
This trip was certainly quieter than the last several that Captain Took’Sar commanded. It was only a five-day trip from Kyk’Voren, but placing the soldiers in deep sleep for those five days was sure to become the standard on any starship he commanded from now on.
The biggest issue facing the Scaladorian government was the same that every ruling body experiences at one point or another; Supply. They were responsible for mining gravitrum for the Stygiboran Empire, but could only keep a small portion for themselves. When mandatory military orders from the empire were factored into the equation, there was only a small amount of the precious stone left for troop transport.
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But the demand for gravitrum didn’t stop there. Politicians that were little more than puppets for their cephalopod overlords flat out refused to travel without the use of a Faster Than Light drive. When the production of gravitrum was high, they could simply use taxpayer credits to purchase more than the standard allotment from the Stygibora and live their life as they see fit.
Sadly, this was not one of those times where production was so high, the only limitation was how much they were willing to spend. The Scaladorian government was on a very strict allotment, and no amount of money would make their master budge.
So naturally, the politicians took their gravitrum from the budget set aside for troop transport to and from the production world, and continued living a lavish lifestyle while their people lived in misery.
But that was the price they paid for survival so long ago. When their planet was dying, the Stygibora came to their world and demanded loyalty in return for life. With their oceans boiling and continents fracturing, they had no choice if they wanted to live.
It wasn’t fair, but there was hope.
If the Scalador researchers working in secret below the surface of Kyk’Voren could unlock the secrets of FTL travel without the use of gravitrum, they would finally have the option of leaving the Stygibora once and for all. It would be a bloody rebellion, and an even bloodier war. But if it meant being free from oppression, Captain Took’Sar would be the first to stand on that line.
“Alright sir, it looks like all guards are on the surface and in the revival process as we speak. We are taking on a roster of 199 here, and they guided into cryosleep pods by station androids as we speak.” The staffer said after watching the reports for the past twenty minutes.
“The last one?”
“Died in a cave in four days ago. The official record shows a decline in mental state before eventually spending every waking second in the mines. They say that if you spend enough time down there, you see things that aren’t there.”
“Fine. Write a letter in my name to his family informing them of their loss. I’m not calling for special troops just to look for a body lost in a labyrinth of stone.”
Took’Sar sat back in his chair and tapped his clawed fingers together, quietly wondering if he could expand the cryosleep roster to include all service members on a ship. Perhaps then he would have silence.
