Hate the Player

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer

The conspiracy nuts must have wet themselves when the Barraz arrived. In a global broadcast, they announced that they were making a pre-emptive move to protect their main weapons supplier. That was us. Or the chunk of us that worked within the notorious ‘military-industrial complex’. It really existed and had been untouchable for decades, but played the game of being only a megacorporation or two.

The Barraz were just negotiating embassy and land rights when the Vortinshur blew their diplomatic fleet to pieces. Then our new visitors broadcast that they had come to protect their weapons supply.

We were still looking about in shock when night turned to day. The Kraddim fleet was huge, both in numbers and sizes. They broadcast that they were happy to liberate us from the invading brigands.

We had no satellites left and falling bits of spacecraft were devastating the land, regardless of affiliation or religion. That menace caused a moment of beauty when world leaders denounced the complex and came together for the betterment of the planet.

Which was when the Kraddim pulled out. A single ship, half the Moon’s diameter in length, arrived just as they faded away into whatever form of jump-space they used.

The broadcast was simple: as ‘we’ had provided weapons to all comers, it had been decided by Galactic Court that we were not suppliers, but gunrunners. As such, our operation would be shut down. Since it was impossible to discern who exactly served the complex, it was with regret that the decision to sterilise Earth had been taken.
They apologised to the innocents about to die, but apparently it was for the greater good of all who lived under the galactic peace initiative. We were given a galactic standard day to set our affairs in order.

A galactic standard day is twenty-nine hours. What would you do if you knew that your loved ones – and yourself – had barely a day to live?

That’s right. We will be approximately twenty-six hours into World War Three when the hammer falls.

I really hate my race right now.