The planet was dying…
Somber faces and moods silently watched on as the news anchor announced grim news after grim news.
Population fallen from a few billion to a hundreds of millions.
Another continent destroyed by the ever increasing radiation.
World hunger.
More fissures in the World Core.
In but a few months, the whole planet would be gone, cease to exist…
Become history.
The previously magnificent Gaia planet would be no more, just galactic dust, a historical lesson and a warning for other planets in the Galactic Federation.
Unable to take it anymore, someone switched off the display terminal and a tangible silence filled the mess hall of the Gaia Army Base.
Even the rations on the table, though much more than that of those suffering hunger on the planet, tasted like shit to the soldiers.
They had no appetite.
Would you have the appetite to eat when you knew your planet would die in a matter of months?
That your friends, your family, your home, would be all gone, never to behold again?
Hell no.
Dark circles could be seen around reddened eyes of men who secretly cried themselves to sleep.
With a sigh, Denzel stood up and left the cafeteria, his friends trailing behind him forlornly.
'We're dead, man. Fucking history,' Jax cursed and smashed his fist into the nearby wall. Despite the force of the punch, it stood steadily without a crack.
After all, it was made of star meteorite alloy, an extremely durable metal used in making Disaster-class Battleships.
'It's like we're all waiting for death, bro. Even the Galactic Federation doesn't want to help us anymore,' Brutus clenched his fists.
At the mention of the Galactic Federation, the already dreary mood became even darker, filled with malice.
Those bastards…
When Gaia had been the primary supplier of war and gene strengthening technology, everyone was their friend.
Other people from planets near and far would visit Gaia to study, live and trade.
The Galactic council looked favorably upon Gaia, even giving her as many as five votes in the galactic parliament.
But when that tragedy had happened, which had led to the first crack in Gaia's world core, everything fell apart.
Natural disasters ravaged the various continents.
Trillions of species dead.
Unstable spatial fluctuations everywhere.
When Gaia needed the help of everyone the most, they all turned their backs on her. Even those who wanted to help only did it with the motive of profiting from their misfortune.
The Galactic council demanded Gaia to give her blueprints for her advanced Warcraft and battleships and genetic research to allow refugees of Gaia into other parts of the galactic federation.
Gaia had refused at first but finally conceded when the World Core cracked again.
Things took a turn for worse when the Galactic federation under the orders of the council refused the entry of Gaian refugees due to fear of contamination.
Stuck on a dying planet with nowhere to go, many people committed suicide.
The Galactic council didn't care.
After all, even if Gaia was destroyed, there were still thousands of other planets in the federation, right?
'The president should give the army the go ahead to attack the Galactic capital!' Jax growled.
Denzel glanced at him. 'That's treasonous talk, Jax.'
'Treasonous talk my ass. All the other guys in the army have been saying this, even the generals! Besides, who would dare be pro-Council in the army?' Jax snorted.
'Forget the Capital. Can't we just find an uninhabited planet to live on?' Brutus asked.
'Like hell the council would allow. They refused that proposal last week! That's the fifth time, bro, the fifth time!
Those bastards want us to die!' Jax's rage was tangible and palpable.
Denzel and Brutus understood him though.
Which living being would want to die?
Not when they could change their fate?
'It wasn't enough to deny our refugees entry into other planets and now they don't even want to give us a place to live!'
Jax continued ranting, punching the wall till his knuckles were all bloody and sore.
The three friends returned to their quarters in silence with the occasional muttering of Jax.
Already, Fern, their older roommate was there, lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He didn't even bother acknowledging the presence of the trio.
Even though he was nineteen, he was looking older than his age, gaunt and pale as if his very soul had been drained.
'It's been two weeks since he last ate,' Brutus looked at Fern worriedly.
Fern had gone on a hunger strike last two weeks when he heard the country his family lived in had sunk to the bottom of the ocean and there were no survivors.
His whole family was gone.
'He's a Rank 6 warrior. He won't die that easily,' Jax snorted and threw himself onto the upper bunk bed above Fern.
Ferns family were definitely part of those who had been relieved of all that pain and suffering earlier on.
Those alive had it worse than those dead.
An oppressive and uncomfortable silence filled the room as each boy laid on their bed, deep in thought.
…
'Mr. President, you know as well as we do that at this rate, the whole planet will cease to exist sooner rather than later!'
A well-built man leaned back heavily in his presidential chair.
His well-trimmed dark hair was matted with sweat despite the advanced aeration system in the room.
In front of him, ministers and high ranking officials proposed idea after idea to get them out of this terrible predicament.
Too bad none of it was feasible.
Thus, they now turned to him, hoping to see if the brilliance with which he had used to lead the nation for twenty years still existed.
Despite the ailing of the planet, most, if not none of the ministers or even his people blamed it on him.
He had been an excellent manager and had led Gaia into becoming a top galactic superpower, a testimony to his superb skills.
The cracking of the World Core was an incident out of the blue, totally unpredictable, and it had thrown water over all his fiery plans, extinguishing them to nothingness.
But now wasn't the time to lament and reminisce over past glories.
President Zhang leaned forward, his eyes scouring the galactical map displayed in front of him, showing how much time the planet had left… and also the proximity of other planets.
His eyes strayed to an unremarkable corner of the map, a little farther but not too far away from Gaia.
There, a huge planet named Gaelen-II was marked, easily twice the size of Gaia.
Gaelen-II was a restricted planet, according to the directive of the Galactic council.
Not many knew or cared to know why but President Zhang knew.
Those on Gaelen-II were ages behind as compared to other planets in the Galactic Federation.
Their population barely reached a billion.
They were literally in the stone age...
Of course, that wasn't a sufficient reason for the Council, as selfish as they were, to protect the planet.
There had to be a deeper underlying reason… perhaps a monumental secret which the Council were greedily using to their advantage.
And it had to be truly deep because the council was always cautious, trying to keep the minds of the Federation away from Gaelen-II.
Even the Imperial Fleet rarely patrolled their airspace!
Clearly, they didn't want to let anyone know what resources Gaelen-II held. Like the selfish bastards they were, they wanted to monopolize it all for themselves.
If he took the surviving inhabitants of Gaia and occupied that planet, the Galactic council would be royally pissed.
Fuck the Galactic council… If you want us all to die, then don't blame me for being merciless… President Zhang closed his eyes and opened them once again.
This time, they glinted with sharp light!
The officials present all looked at the President with hope.
Surely, he had something up his sleeve, like he always did!
They knew that particular glint in his eye, that glimmering spark which promised the proposal of novel and outrageous ideas...
'Prepare to launch an invasion on Gaelen-II in two hours.
We won't sit around waiting to die; not when there's a huge planet waiting to be occupied.'