Chapter one: The rains of springThe sky was a light green over the white of the snow. I’ve seen many skies in my life, most are blue, a few are black, green was a nice change of pace. The colony’s scientists had explained to me by then that there were algae-like organisms in the atmosphere, greenery in the sky to contrast the tundra of this planet. We called it Khione, but nobody called it that before humans came. The place was named after a minor deity in a dead faith; almost every planet is named in such a way. Earth is the first and only true Type One civilization, the first civilization to unite its homeworld as one nation, every other world being Type Zero, and that means we get to name the worlds of the universe.My apprentice, Kano, was out with me looking over the jade horizon. I’m chief officer of native relations on the starship Gaia. We travel to extra stellar colonies to supervise and aid human citizens. My apprentice spoke to me, breaking the tranquility of the white desert, “So this is it.”I couldn’t tell how much of a question, and how much of a comment what he said was. I replied calmly with a question of my own, “The universe?”Kano replied smugly “Well, at least this is what Khinoe is.”“Have you been off world before this?”“Venus, once.”“Venus is no shining example of space travel, a pit stop from earth, with no way to touch the ground. A floating city may be fantastical to a boy, but you are now a man, and we may show you the true wonder of the outer universe.”Kano slinked into himself, “It’s nice to get away from…”I finished his sentence “...politics,” grinding the word between my teeth with mutual understanding of the horror of the concept. To console my apprentice I started a sentence of my own, “Your father and siblings are no threat to the Republic of Earth. Understand that what they say is wrong, love them as family if you can, and never tell anyone who your family or even what your last name is.”Kano looked back at me, “What if my homeland is in open rebellion? It may be so in a few years.”“Robert E. Lee fought for the South, though his morals and politics aligned with the Union. Don’t be a Robert E. Lee. And don’t think that your father ever will get as far as the C.S.A. did. He may have big ideas about nation and empire, but he’s a human of earth, he will never be as foreign as he wants to be. The man can hardly speak.”“He can speak perfectly, just not well in English. He only ever speaks in our language.”I became stern yet not angered, “You are of Earth, your language is Sol, call it Common, call it English, you will not be defined by your province. You will not be a man of the empire of the sun, your nation ended in peace, and an original member of the Republic of Earth. When you defend secession, you defend the crimes your nation committed in the second world war, and you make all of it part of your identity, as opposed to the common heritage of man.”The boy left, he seemed uncomfortable with all of this. As he slunk away I shouted to him, “As for your name off world, call yourself Kevin, and give no hints to your origins, even if it is an earth origin.”I spent a few more hours enjoying the natural beauty of this world. Soon it got too cold so I went back to our base. The inside of the base was well lit with wooden walls. It gave off the feel of a cabin in the woods or a ski lodge, there was even the head of a horned beast native to Khione that may as well have been an elk or moose. The entire colony reminded me of my childhood in the northern regions of earth, yet technology loomed over the base. Computer screens and safety requirements screamed, “this is not home” in a way even the most industrial and modernist of buildings could not. It was my first day sleeping there but everything had been taken to my room. I dreamed of my home back in Boston that night.That morning we awoke to the blaring of alarms, “hostile aliens outside colony, walls not yet breached, no unwanted aliens inside base(s)”. I looked out my window to see a small army. They were gaunt beings with matted yet wispy white hair, their bodies were flat with six tall legs and four long arms, their necks were swan like and their jaws were sideways and fanged. They were not advanced in the slightest, a few had found and used human guns, but most used spears tipped with bronze. They protected themselves with long shields of shale, and helms of bone with their eyes bulging out the tops of them. I hadn’t known that the natives were inhabiting this area. The nearest alien settlement was over a mountain range, but this army wasn’t from there. They had marched from an eastern city to remove human presence from the planet.Outside the base a human line formed. They were in full body armor; damascus steel, titanium, and kevlar coated our guards’ bodies. The human guards unleashed a hail of bullets onto the attackers. The first line of aliens held up their shields; many were left dead or fallen from our defense, but many more were behind them. We were outnumbered. The alien force pushed up, running into our fire, dying without fear. Far more of our men fell to their stabbing than I had thought possible from such a primitive army. The bronze of the attacking spears was soon blotted with a red I knew only one creature to bleed.Soon the alarm changed, “Hostile aliens inside colony, walls breached, inhuman army inside base”.The ship’s head of defense, Maximilian Kahn, came into my room, his hair a tangle of black lumps, his young skin already marked with scars from inhuman spears of various planets, “We’re evacuating, you should probably… do that.”I assured him, “I am, don’t worry. Get my apprentice for me.”I rushed to get my coat and left for the ship. A tube, constructed of rotating segments, loomed over the snow swept ground of the colony. The heat of the vessel revealed dark soil. Small shelled animals took shelter under the iron ship's glow. “Gaia” was painted on its side, the Latin name seeming archaic, but as a ship of earth, of all of earth, it was unifying.I stepped onto the ship. A guard stopped me to make sure I was part of the ship’s crew. No colonists would be allowed to flee to Gaia’s safety.I was greeted by Maximilian, as well as my apprentice. Kano appeared shaken. The experience of the attack seemed to have killed any enthusiasm he had for the universe. Max did not speak either. It was normal for him to witness battle, but it was also normal for him not to speak. He was eating anyway.We walked into the control room. The captain sat upon his seat, his grey hair slicked back behind his ears. He addressed Maximilian first, “So, what is my defense specialist doing here?”Maximilian spat out what came first to his mind, “Eating a sandwich, Sir!” He was incredibly bad socially, but combined with a misunderstanding of social cues it came off as sheer confidence.The captain laughed. Things seemed to be going fine.The chief engineer then entered the room, he was an alien, the highest ranked inhuman on the ship, his head was filled with sharp teeth like a dog’s, his body was serpentine and laced with tiny legs, a single hand emerged from the end of his tail. Nonetheless he was good at his job. He spoke in an inhuman voice “Arising to upper atmosphere, we will be able to create a wormhole to earth by the nightfall.”Kano stared at the creature, “He… is an inhuman, interesting crew member.”Max spoke, slightly uncomfortable himself, “His name is William.”I interjected “No need to be afraid of him, he’s a valued member of this ship, we picked him up as a child, he spent most of his life with humans.”William spoke to Kano, as humanoid as his voice could get “I’m sorry for any fear I have caused, for you I will land the ship in your homeland.”Kano became nervous “I’d really rather not go back to Japan for awhile.”The alien gave a somber look, scanning the boy, “I insist. It seems I am not the only exotic in this room, you may still be human, but we may be alike in more ways than you’d imagine.”I chimed in to stop the discussion, “He’d rather not and that’s final!”Max then broke his silence “Kano’s from Japan?”William joked “And I am an alien.”The captain proceeded to shut us all up with a hand gesture, as we prepared to enter a wormhole of our own making.We landed at our usual station about an hour later, green grass and blue sky, or at least a sky the would be blue in the morning. The lights of New York shined on the horizon. We exited the vessel, a few people showed up to see us, most of them knowing specific crew members.The second me and Kano left the ship a figure in all black approached us. He wore a long jacket, embroidered on it were letters in some language I had never seen before, they looked like slashes from a sword. His eyes were obscured by sunglasses, reflecting the summer moon and stars. At his belt he carried a long curved blade, longer than any bayonet or modern combat knife, but black and curved unlike any medieval sword.The man in black came up to me and my apprentice. I expected him to address me, but he went straight for Kano, “Hello brother.”I moved my left hand to my pistol, and signaled for him to back off with my right. I knew this person, he was a separatist, from the family my student had fled. He spoke to me with utter confidence. His cause gave him determination as his youth gave him foolishness, “Let me introduce myself, my name is Juro Hiromasa, this is my brother Kano, someone whom you seem to be very good at indoctrinating.”I replied, doing my best to keep Kano out of this, “He wants nothing to do with you, he left your family for us.”“Oh, you do seem to accept him well here, you’ll rename him Kevin, or something such as that, you’ll give him a role in your empire’s army, he’ll have children with a westerner, the children will speak only english, and soon the world will be yours.”I didn’t understand Juro very well. I replied as best I could, “You don’t need to do this. Peace, prosperity, unity-”“You’re headed off to civilize my land? Have you? That's what they all say.”“All of the brave men you harass?”“All of the imperialists, Germany, England, Rome. All the same, are they not?”“It’s you who is the nationalist, you who is the facist.”“Sepratist, natonalist at the worst. The fascists grew borders, we simply wish for them to be as they have always been.”“It’s not my fault you…” I didn’t know how to finish that sentence, but I knew it would not end well if I did “... I see the villians in our past on your side, I can feel it in my heart.”Juro flashed his grin, “the pendulum swings left, the pendulum swings right. I shall stand and fight where it is not.” He darted away, into the night. When I turned to Kano I saw that he had left as well.I took a hyperloop up to Boston. I made my way up to my empty home. Something in me knew that this was the last calm night. I always knew that it could be, but looking out my window that night I knew it as, almost as fact. The moon was full that night, a moonlight that warned that the sun would one day destroy it.The next morning I got a call from the captain. I picked up my phone, ignoring that my alarm had still not screeched. “Captain Hunter Adams speaking, of the ESS Gaia.”I was surprised to not have gotten his secretary. I spoke in a half asleep voice “So? We’re deploying once again, soon?”“Yes, or maybe not…” he chuckled a little “...I trust you, I trust you not to enjoy what I am about to share. Japan grows a roster of charismatic radicals, thousands rally against our regulations in Poland, Latin American criminals unite against their government, rebels and separatists are growing in numbers and in unity. War is coming, something earth was never meant to to see again.”“Separatists uniting? Their nature is rebellion. Street thugs and cultists won't be writing constitutions any time soon. We live in the nation of earth, I don’t care who wants to ignore that we are no empire!”Captain Adams sighed, “I’m not for their sickening cause, but that doesn't mean I’ll be the fool who underestimates their threat. Do you really want to think about a future, a future where an interstellar humanity fights amongst itself.”“We will always be the government on earth. The best they could hope for is a few provinces. They don’t have Capital territory, they don’t have Province Rus, they don’t even have China. They’ll never overthrow us, we will stand for technology and democracy forever.”“They don’t want to, nor need to overthrow us! They want to become their own separate states. And soon China, and Russia, and even Capital will turn on us. And we’ll have fewer resources to fight them. We know how the republic of earth can handle alien kings, what can we do for the emperor of Japan?”We didn’t speak for a few moments, yet soon the captain spoke again “That reminds me: tomorrow I want you to negotiate with a leader in Mexico, It’ll just be you and Max, the government doesn't need to know. I’ll send you the information once we do some talking, goodbye.”I laughed a bit to myself “Goodbye then, and may the sun never set on the planet earth.”Me and Maximilian were snuck onto a private hyperloop, the dark tunnels warped past my eyes. The empty train car sang her warsong as the underground winds howled through her bones. We crossed from capital province to Mexico, a border once burning with tension now stitched together, yet earth’s wound still festered.We exited, iron doors opened to reveal a shining sun. Through dense forests we were led to a separatists’ base. Our guide could speak common but he didn’t.Max looked over the green expanse “So, I’m surprised there’s parts of earth that look so… alien.”I commented back “Well, I’d be lying if I said this isn’t a bit weird too. I’ve seen many planets but all I’ve seen of earth is the capital province, the other provinces were always footnotes, at least compared to space.”“I’m surprised humans even live here. With everyone united, and cooler climes in reach, I’d move straight up to capital.”I was a bit hesitant to respond, “Well, this may sound a bit separatist, but this is some humans’ home, they even do have a culture.”Max laughed nervously, or maybe dismissively “When you talk to the rebels they’ll be happy to hear that. Maybe they’ll even invite you to be one of their high priests.”“I can know a few offensive truths without believing every offensive opinion.”“So, do you know anything about this place?”“Well, they have had a bad history before they joined earth’s government, third world during the classical American era, some border conflicts, but a peaceful surrendering of sovereignty to the republic of earth during unification. I believe they were colonized first by Europeans, but it seems from the location of the rebel base that there was a very ancient civilization here.”After being led through a few secret passageways, we looked out upon the rebel base. It wasn’t all new though, the base was built around a temple, a very old one. I had no knowledge of its origins, but I could tell that no modern culture had built it from the strange triangular shape and statues of dragons and serpents baring their fangs.Our guide pulled out a steel dagger and put it to my neck. He finally spoke to us, “So, you would like to speak with our leader. You space men will learn that this is a privilege, not a right.”We were led into a grand tent. Rouge soldiers and rebel militia stood with firearms in their arms, while others discussed strategy, and a few others simply relaxed or gambled. Near the back of the tent half nude women danced. In a glass cage, poached alien warriors of Ladon were forced to fight with axes, their feathery vulture-like groups clashed in front of a wooden model of their city Teass.We were led to the back of the tent. Our treasonous guide introduced us to the leader “Eberhard Perez”. Eberhard was an imposing man with an expression between a smirk and a scowl. He took on the trappings of some ancient culture, wearing the pelt of a jaguar over a modern suit. In his hands was a strange weapon, a wooden paddle with a blade made of volcanic glass.Perez spoke to us in a calm yet angered voice. “I see… new travelers to my land. Speak your will.”I nervously spoke up “I have come of my own volition-”Perez cut me off “Sent by a captain's orders!”“A good friend suggested I come, I may have broken a few laws myself to get here. What I want is to save the lives of potentially everyone in this room. War will kill men on both sides. We can stop that now.”“If you wish to stop a war then end your occupation, you have no legitimate claim to my homeland!”“We are the nation of earth, we have a claim to earth, to the entire earth.”“I do not believe in a nation of earth, earth has no culture, no people. My people date back to before the stars were explored, the blood of empires runs through my veins.”“We can shape a culture, create an identity, we can make earth a flag all men can rally under.”“Pale men have come here before with a similar proposal.”“We don’t want to do any harm to you.”Perez looked down at me face “My culture is old, I do not want to be commanded around by anyone else's. My people need freedom, the government ruling by my people must be elected by only my people, not the people of the entire earth.”I became slightly angered “You’re putting value on a piece of dirt.”“I put value on my culture, I do not care for having a president that anyone other than my own blood voted for, and I do not care for a government of foreigners.”“We are a democracy, is that not enough.”“In the province of Arabia, genital mutilation is still practiced, in the province of India marriges require a payment from the bride’s father. They both have electorates, they both have councilman, those provinces have a part of deciding the laws that govern our daughters and sisters.”Maximilian interjected “You have no respect for other cultures, though all I’ve ever known of this land was your ancestors clawing to be let north to the United states.”Eberhard Perez became very angered, losing all composure “We stand where empires once stood! Do you even know who built the ruins my base surrounds‽ Has all of earth forgotten our history‽” He raised his blade and slashed at the air angrily.Our guide spoke to him “They will make us into what they called you: a footnote.”I interjected “Is what you say true? I always assumed there were nothing but tribes in the new world before colonization.”Perez looked at me with shame “Once there was a great civilization in this land, we built great cities, we wrote books and passed laws. For centuries before the Spanish came the Aztec empire was one of the greatest civilizations on this earth. As all cultures must the civilizations of the past fell, but for years after they were remembered, the civilizations of the world were the pride of their descendants and celebrated and studied worldwide…” his pitch dropped “But that’s gone now, isn’t it? The study of ancient civilizations is considered jingoistic? Unneeded? Anti-earth? Outside of the internet I haven't seen anything on our history. The death of knowledge is the worst thing possible, all empires of doomed to meet their fate, but to be forgotten is true darkness. And as history is forgotten so will its lessons be.”I attempted to change the subject, “I’m sorry sir, but if you are going to go to war with us, it’s time you face the truth: you and everyone you work with will not survive.”He raised his obsidian blade to me “You plan on threatening murder, when you are outgunned, outmaned?” His fellow rebels pointed their guns at our heads.“Is it murder to eradicate a virus?”“I’ve eradicated a few.”“Well, if neither of us are going to kill each other, I believe we both have business to attend to.”We retreated to a small motel, we spent the night there, going to sleep soon after we called the captain.