Plasma Extractor Story guidelines

Story guidance for “flight of the Anasazi”, a novel by David Billiot

Historical summery. 

2351: Earth scientists invent plasma extractors

Plasma extractors: Giant replicating machines that can siphon material like hydrogen from the sun and fuse it into heavier elements, produce power, and print complete components. 

2402: Walerton corporation proposes using the plasma extractors to help terraform Mars and Venus. However, even after hundreds of years both planets remain uninhabitable due to adverse conditions. 

2460: Walerton abandons Mars and Venus. 

2525: Greyma company proposes using a swarm of high density ships called “mass tugs” to collide and combine Mercury, Venus, and Mars into one planet that would be nearly the same mass as Earth. The government formally rejects the proposal. 

2617: Alan Slate proposes using the plasma extractors to print a copy of Earth and place it in Earth’s same orbit, just on the other side of the sun.  Many people criticize the idea because of the enormous amount of matter that would have to be siphoned. The government formally rejects the idea. 

2798: Onictech launches an interstellar mission to another star against government protest.  

2951: Onictech ships arrive at Alpha Centauri and begin constructing plasma extractors in order to build a duplicate Earth and Moon system compete with gas giant. 

3170: Onictech claims to have successfully created a planet with Earth’s same mass, chemical composition, spin, and tilt in the habitable zone of the Centauri system. The planet needs to be terraformed and the company is welcoming settlers who want to leave the overcrowded Earth. 

3170: Mintoba corporation launches their own mission to colonize Wolf 359. 

3171: Earth government reverses their objections and launches a mission to colonize Bernard’s star. 

3171: The religion of peace & brotherhood launches a mission to colonize Sirius. 

5240: The colony in the Centauri system loses contact with Earth. 

… 

Process used for colonizing a star system. 

One plasma extractor arrives in the system and goes into orbit around the star. It uses magnetic fields to pull protons and electrons from the star. It uses this plasma for fusion to create heavier materials. This creates useful materials as well as a massive amount of energy. 

The plasma extractor replicates itself several times before the heat and radiation of the star completely destroy it. 

The ever growing constellation of plasma extractors begin creating mass tugs. Mass tugs are high density ships. A swarm of mass tugs are able to orbit in a pattern that will pull objects out of their current orbit and into a new one.  The mass tugs clear the habitable zone of all objects. 

The plasma extractors create several world spires. These massive objects are the starter frame for a planet to be built upon. 

The plasma extractors also store a massive amount of energy in the form of hydrocarbons to be used later if needed. Mass tugs pull the blocks of hydrocarbons into a higher obit.  

Material from the plasma extractors begin being sent to the world spires to create a planet.  The goal is to create a planet that is the exact same mass, chemical composition, spin, and tilt as the Earth. Such a planet will have a magnetic field and can be terraformed.  The planet will also be orbited by a moon that has the same characteristics as Earth’s moon. If there is no gas giant in the system then an appropriate amount of hydrogen will be pulled from the star to great one. 

A planet on its own will not have life on it. Humans need to arrive and terraform the planet. At first the planet is hot and the crust is thin.  The humans that arrive convert their interstellar ship into a space station. They use the plasma extractors to create materials to build additional space stations and being dropping materials they need down to the planet surface. 

In the next stage, the colonists build domes cities.  They have to convert the regolith of the planet into soil. 

Once the ocean is seeded and the air is not toxic anymore the people leave the domed cities and build open air settlements. 

Terraforming is a massive effort that takes generations to complete. It is often the case that with all the manpower and brainpower of the people going into getting life to take root on the planet, other skills like spaceflight are slowly lost over time. The humans need to get bacteria, fungus, plants, and animals to not only exist but thrive. Nearly everyone is involved in terraforming or agriculture.  

Not all star systems were suitable for a habitable planet. If a star was too much larger or too much smaller than a G type star (like Sol, our sun), then the challenges involved in terraforming were too great and the colony would fail. All life would be lost. 

… 

More than twenty five thousand years later, using a new calendar system 

Stars are not stationary.  Every star in the galaxy is moving.  While two stars might be close to each other (if lightyears apart can ever be considered close) at one point in time, they drift away. Radio is too slow to keep in contact with the people living on other stars. All colonies lose contact with each other.

2276: A pilot named Mark Adakai from the planet Florida in the 18 Scorpii system is the first human to fly a ship with a true faster than light engine. 

FTL: These engines are dangerous and unstable. The scientists and engineers who make them don’t actually know how they work. The engines create local gravity in the ship. They also compress space around the ship. 

2286: Mark is sent using FTL on the “first ever” interstellar mission to another star.  His ship is called the Anasazi. He overshoots and ends up on the other side of the galaxy. Mark, like everyone of his home planet, believes that life and especially intelligent life only exists on his home planet. His is completely surprised to find humans living on a planet just like his own on the other side of the galaxy. 

FTL allows communication between the stars as well as the movement of people, plants, and animals. The fastest way to send a message in the FTL era is to just go there and say it. 

… 

A thousand years after Mark Adakai’s flight in the Anasazi

Humans have reconnected with each other.  Radio is still too slow to keep in contact so news travels person to person when ships arrive from other systems. 

AI chips are put into just about everything meaning that a game console, a watch, and even a toaster are pretty much sentient.  

Sentient machines are classified according to a system. 

Atypes: These machines are fixed in place and can not move. Anything from a vending machine to a toaster is an Atype.

Btypes: These machines can move. They are usually on wheels. A robo taxi or a food delivery bot in a restaurant would be a Btype. 

Rtypes: These machines have a humanoid body plan but are obviously a machine.  Sometimes they are bare metal exposed to the environment and sometimes they have fake plastic skin covering up their robot parts like an animatronic. 

Dtypes: These machines were designed to look as human as possible. From a distance they would be mistaken as human.  The skin covering this machine is not just there to hide the gears inside. The skin, eyes, nose, and mouth are all full sensory devices allowing the machine to learn more about the environment it is in. 

Ctypes: These are NOT machines. These beings are genetically engineered from cyanobacteria. Their DNA has been altered so that they look and act like humans.  Because they are not human and are instead created they are used as free labor in environments that would be toxic for humans. One such environment is the high radiation inside a plasma extractor near a star. 

Some humans have encountered Aliens.  Because all life in the galaxy all originates from the same tree of life, the Terran tree of life; Aliens were referred to as Extra-terrestrial Life Forms. This got reduced to “ELF” and so Aliens are called elves. Not all humans have encountered them, believing they are just a myth. 

The politics of the galaxy are complex.  Roughly half of all star systems with habitable planets are independent and constantly worried they’ll be taken over. 

There are four large organizations that control multiple systems. 

1: The Galactic Republic: They don’t control the entire galaxy but they think they eventually will. They have their core worlds where everyone can vote. Around the core worlds they have the allies. The allies can not travel away from their home world. All trade and communication has to be done with the Republic. Never with an outside system and definitely never with another ally. 

2: The Empire: This is a violent society.  They separate themselves into two classes, Imperials and Dependents. An Imperial can be trusted with responsibility since he has completed military training and served in the armed forces. A dependent can not be trusted with responsibility but all Imperials are duty bound to die before any harm ever comes to a dependent. 

3: The Ziot: These worlds are commerce worlds were money is the most important thing. 

4: The pirate worlds controlled by the Muzal are run down and destitute. The pirated are basically parasites that destroy and move on. 

Rules for Time Travel stories

Time travel is often used in fiction to varying degrees of success. It is often the case the time travel stories become confusing for the audience and too much of a burden for the writer to keep track of.  

With such a perfectly fictional concept as time travel each story is left on its own to figure out what the time travel rules in their story will be. As such, nearly no two time travel stories agree on the basic rules. This causes each story to have to explain the rules to the audience because those rules will definitely be different. There is not agreed upon base to use as a shorthand for how time travel is supposed to work. 

But what if there was?  Was if it was possible for a writer to use time travel in a story and the audience already know exactly what the rules were and didn’t need them explained again.  What if a writer didn’t have to come up with a bunch of half baked and ill conceived rules that contradict each other.  

So, to help out all other writers out there, here are the three rules of time travel you should use in your story. If you understand these rules and apply them consistently you won’t have to explain how time travel works to the audience, you won’t have to worry about contradicting yourself, and the rules have drama built into them.  

1: Random is RANDOM!!!   A common time travel trope is the traveler gets the lottery numbers from the future and goes back in time to win.  But will this work?  That would be the same as a scientist measuring the position of an electron and then going back in time to measure something else and then saying the he knows with certainty both properties. But physics doesn’t work that way. He’s not allowed to know both states of the electron. Similarly, if the mechanism used to generate lottery numbers is really random, then it should be impossible to use numbers from the future to win. Going back in time means the random event or interaction has a brand new chance to throw the dice and get a different outcome. 

Now think about how many things in life are actually kind of random.  Not just at the micro scale but at the macro scale. An election night that was so close just a few people randomly voting the other way or staying home could mean a different person wins. A baby was a boy but after time travel the parents have a girl instead. 

2: The time traveler is non contingent. What this means is that the time traveler is not tethered to the past or the future. From the point of view of the universe they just popped into existence from a random fluctuation of the quantum field.  If the time traveler goes back in time to kill their grandfather, or even their own younger self NOTHING happens to the time traveler. There are no magic tentacles of time stuff reaching out to connect the time traveler to anything. The time traveler is a free agent.  

3: There is not going back to the future. This rule is a consequence of rule number 1.  It is almost the same rule but needs to be stated separately so the writer and the audience really feel the impact. If all random interactions are random and get another chance and can get a new outcome, it means that after time travel, you can never get back to the future that is in exactly the same state as before. That future the time traveler came from is GONE. It’s not there anymore. It was erased. Destroyed. Wiped away.  It never existed. It never happened. The only echo of it is in the time traveler’s memory.  After time travel an entirely new future will have to work itself out and will certainly have differences from before. If a person goes back in time to before they were conceived it means they will likely not be conceived. And even if they are with the same parents and the same DNA, that child will still be a completely different person. A genetic twin, but will grow up to have a different personality and memories. 

Sulla Is Inevitable - Chapter 11

 Sulla Is Inevitable

By David Billiot

Copyright 2026: All rights reserved

Chapter 11

Two of the attackers had been captured.  They were being interrogated for information at the station in orbit around the star Lopetua. The governor was a man in his fifties. His world was allied to the Republic and had not participated in the War of the Allies. He had been collecting reports of what had been happening and sending them to the capital. Because of FTL, the fastest way to send a message was to just go there and say it. Radio was only good for communications in one system.  It also meant that there could be little or no word ahead of time of an important dignitary arriving. 

White had arrived with the task force of only fifteen ships and the governor hurried to provide a proper welcome. However, White did not care for pleasantries. 

“What do we know?” White asked matter of fact as soon as he was brought into the headquarters. 

“They targeted the needles. These are massive subsurface structures in planets. They were likely used during the construction process to keep the planetoid hot and the core molten while the planet was being created. They also help to regulate the magnetic field.  The crust is a bit thinner at the points where the needles touch the crust.” the inspector explained. 

“Who sent these ships?” White asked. 

“We don’t know. We’ve never seen anything like them. We were able to capture two of the attackers but so far they haven’t given us anything.”

“All they say is Devin over and over again.  They are acting very odd. I don’t understand this.” the governor said. 

“The two prisoners look identical. They might be twins.”

“Are they human?” White inquired. 

“Yes, but something has been done to them. And if they are not twins it means cloning.”

“Our enemy is destroying planets. Cloning humans is the least of their crimes.  I want to hear from the witnesses who saw what happened with their own eyes.”

“We recovered as many people as we could. Some of them were … prisoners.”

“I don’t care about that right now.” White stressed. “I want to hear from an eye witness.”

“There was one young man who might be a bit more articulate than the others. I’ll have him brought.”

Darkness was in handcuffs as he was brought before White.  He had no idea what was about to happen. 

“You no longer need those.” White said. The guard removed the handcuffs and Darkness brought his left hand to his right wrist to care for it. 

“Thank you. … Sir.”

“Do you know who I am?”

Darkness shook his head. “No, sir.”

“What did you see? What happened at Javin?”

“There was some kind of beam. It stretched off into space like it was coming from the sun. It was cutting Javin. Just cutting it like butter.”  Darkness lost his composure. He looked down and started to cry. 

“Did you lose family?” White asked. 

Darkness nodded but didn’t look up. 

“Governor Valens, what is his crime?”

“He was off world without a license. He was on an administrative hold.”

“Well, you can’t put him back, can you?”

“We’ll drop the charges.”

White nodded. 

“Sir, I don’t have any money. I need work.” Darkness said. 

“First, rest.” the governor said. 

“The Atolian fleet is coming.” White mentioned. “I’ll ask them to give you a spot, boy. Governor, let’s draw up documents so he doesn’t get arrested again.”

… 

Pulcher’s transport ship dropped out of FTL in the Brundisi system.  Pulcher himself was on the bridge and waited for the ship’s communication’s officer to make contact with White’s task force. The communication’s officer announced to the captain of the ship that the local authorities were saying White was not there. Pulcher overheard this and felt his anger rise. 

“If they are harboring the fugitive there will be penalties.”

“They say that word has come that White’s ships went to Lopetua.” the comm officer said. 

“Navigation, prepare for jump.” the captain commanded. 

Pulcher sat again in his seat and again endured the ship going into FTL.  He would be sure to tighten the cuffs around White’s wrists for this.  Pulcher got up and went to the restroom to relieve himself. When finished he looked at himself in his uniform.  He was going to arrest the vice president. He smiled. His name would be remembered for his. 

The light changing color indicated the ship was going to drop out of FTL. Pulcher rushed to get back to his seat so he could be buckled in for the moment. He got buckled just in time. Once the ship did come out of FTL it was confronted with a battle happening at that very moment. 

Pulcher’s ship was fired on by the black ships of the invading armada and the captain ordered evasive maneuvers. 

“Is White here?” Pulcher demanded. 

“We’re a bit busy.”

Pulcher was blind to the details of the battle happening.  He didn’t know what was going on. He had to hold on as the ship spun this way and that to avoid fire. Several blasts hit the ship and rocked the interior. 

“Captain, we are receiving word from White’s flagship on regroup coordinates.”

“Patch me through to White.” Pulcher demanded. 

“You’ll have to wait, sir.” the captain said. 

“If you have communications then patch me through now!”

The captain grimaced but complied. The secondary communications officer was ordered to get Pulcher on a direct line to White. 

“This is Captain Luculus.”

“By order of the Republic Senate and People’s Assembly, I demand to speak to Lucius White.” Pulcher said into the radio. 

“This is not a good time. Leave your message.”

“I will take you into custody as a traitor unless you put White on right this moment.”

Pulcher waited. The voice of Luculus did not come back. Instead the voice of the vice president himself came. “What is this?”

“Open your docking ports. My ship will dock. You are commanded by the senate to receive me.”

“Not going to happen.”

“This is a legal order from the senate.”

“I am in the middle of a evacuating a planet. Do you not see the battle?”

“Then I demand you take a shuttle to my ship.”

“On what authority?”

“The senate. They have relieve you of command. Your task force is ordered to return to the capital to be placed under the direct command of Senator Narius. You are to be taken into custody to answer for your crimes. Now acknowledge this order and obey it. You are under arrest. I will take you into custody.”

The line was silent for a moment. Then White’s voice came over. “Good luck.”

Sulla Is Inevitable - Chapter 10

 Sulla Is Inevitable

By David Billiot

Copyright 2026: All rights reserved

Chapter 10

This was a disaster. The black ships of elven make were smashing the Imperial navy that had come to prevent yet another world from destruction. The battle was taking place in orbit right above the star.  The old tactics the Empire used to use against the elves had not been working. These new ships were upgraded and much more powerful. 

The flagship had taken heavy damage and would not survive. The captain called for evacuation even knowing that the ships of the black armada would target them.  It was also very dangerous to use escape pods so close to the surface of the star but there was no choice. The ship was doomed. 

The emperor and his personal guard were rushing through the corridor of the massive vessel when the announcement system said one of the black ships had rammed them and enemy troops were boarding. 

The constant thud thud of the battle outside, the heat, and the relentless spinning red lights of the loud annoying alarm were making this moment of defeat less than dignified. 

The emperor and his guards arrived at a bulkhead door.  As someone was getting it open the emperor was thinking of what he could do.  Was this the end? Was this how he ended?  A life of service and sacrifice. A life of honor and dignity.  Damn the elves. It was wrong to let them go and not hunt them down like vermin. But that was the mistake of a previous emperor. Now this generation had to pay the price it seemed. 

The door was finally opened and the party was going to rush ahead. Someone put a hand to the emperor to encourage him to move but he did not move. 

“Go ahead.” he ordered. 

“Sire?”

“Valeria, come here.” the emperor demanded. 

The lone woman in the emperor’s guard turned and looked confused. She stepped forward and the Emperor reached to take off her helmet. She flinched but then let him do it. He pulled her to him and kissed her on the forehead. 

“I will make you the messenger.”

“No.” she protested not only with word but with a violent shake of her head. 

“Deny your emperor all you want but you will obey your father.”

“My lord, please. We need to get you to safety so you can …”

“Girl, listen. We have not time.” he demanded as the hull of the great ship was creaking and straining. “I did not place you in my guard so you could protect me. You are here so that I can protect you.”

“I will do my duty, father. Please. Come now.”

“Ravoren needs a new emperor. Listen carefully. When that man rises you must go to him as the messenger. Carry the words from me to him.”

“Why? Father, please.” she said as she tried to pull on his hand. 

“We fight. We die. We endure. And for what?  What is the secret of imperium? It is this and only this. Keep our people alive. That is the only thing that matters. Not wealth. Not power. Not expansion. Not even honor. Keep our people alive.” he repeated. 

“Father, you can make it.” she said. 

“Repeat the words to me.”

“You can make it.”

“I charge you as your emperor to be the messenger. Repeat the words.”

“Keep our people alive.” she said. 

The emperor looked up from her face and looked at each of the others there in turn. “Valeria is the messenger to pass on the secret to the next emperor. Your duty is to keep her alive at all costs.”

“It will be done, sire.” said the commander of the guard. In the end they had to drag Valeria away from her father. They pulled her across the threshold of the bulkhead door and then the emperor sealed it behind them. 

The emperor removed his ceremonial sash that he everyday put on his shoulder. It fell to the floor because the FTL was still providing artificial gravity to the ship. Next the emperor took off all his insignia and he was left with only his white navy uniform.  The weight was lifted. He almost felt like smiling. On the wall next to the door was the control for the fire suppression system.  The emperor used it to begin filling the corridor with white smoke. He put aside his ceremonial sword. He grabbed the ax and waited, knowing that it would not be long before a boarding party found him. No matter the cost they would not get through that door. 

It didn’t take long. Black clad soldiers started to fill the corridor but slowed when they encountered the smoke. They were tall. Too tall to be elves. They were in full tactical gear with closed faced helmets.  They approached slowly in formation. They were not speaking to each other. Whatever communication method they used the emperor could not perceive it. 

Then in an instant one of the black clad soldiers rushed directly towards the emperor. He came charging like a ram with his head low and sword aiming for a killing blow. The emperor felt a rush of giddy madness. He leaped forward to meet the threat, putting all his might into the ax in his hand. The blade of the ax cut a line through the smoke. The steel came crashing down onto the helmet of the marine. Instantly the body of the attacker slumped lifelessly to the ground.  

“Ha!” the emperor yelled as the rest of the boarding party zeroed in on him. Five of them rushed the emperor. There was clashing of steel on steel.  The emperor’s uniform was cut to ribbons revealing the physique the old man hid under his vestments. His muscles were like steel coils wrapped around his body. They sprang into action with the emperor cutting through his foes with exceptional brutality. He sliced one attacker’s arm clean off but for the next the emperor had missed. He had intended to take the soldier’s head off from the neck but instead he aimed too high and brains splattered out all over the place. 

The emperor was pushed to a wall and he pushed back against it. He forced the attacker to the ground and held his foot on the marine’s neck while he continued combat like the man under him was not even there. 

With all the initial attackers dead the emperor began to make his way down the corridor back the way he had come.  Then a second wave of marines revealed themselves.  

“Come!” the emperor shouted at them. “Come give your lives to me. My blade thirsts for a sacrifice.”

The battle began and the emperor found it almost too easy to cut through them like butter.  Two down. Then three. 

“I fight to the death.” the emperor announced as he advanced. “I breathe to the death. I sing to the death. I live … to the death. I’m right here. Come and kill me if you dare. For I was a man before I was a king.”

On he pushed and more of the marines fell at his hand. 

And once he had fought his way all the way backtracking to the bridge he found others of the Imperial crew who could not make it off the ship. 

“The emperor.” a lieutenant said. 

“These dogs have made the mistake of boarding us. That means there is a corvi.” the emperor instructed. Everyone understood. 

“It’s connected by deck eight.” one of the NCOs reported. 

“Then that’s where we go.” 

The men roared. They formed up behind the emperor and they marched.  This ship was doomed but the enemy ship could be their way to safety instead of burning up in the atmosphere of the star. 

As they marched and fought to get to the black ship that was docked to them the men started to sing as they fought. The enemy marines fell so easily it was almost deceptive. It felt like a trick. Their ships were powerful but their actual marines were … not good enough to be marines. 

“Sire, these are men, not elves.”

“I see that.”

“But they all have the same face.” 

“Clones.” the lieutenant said with disgust. 

“It matters not.” the emperor said coldly.  “We need to get to that ship.” 

The party pushed on. Forward. Forward. They could make it. There was enough time. Forward. Forward. 

… 

Valeria was listening to the radio as the escape ship blasted away, dodging fire to get to safety. She heard her father singing as he slaughtered one after another. 

“iste unta ah astanda unthede

iste unta ah astanda unthede 

iste unta veva lema onte mo

Zra

Isede onte mo

Isede onte ivila 

Isede onte ola

Ola Mia” 

Over and over the two verses were sung as the battle raged. Valeria began to have hope that her father would survive. But then, without warning, the plasma extractor aimed at the pair of ships and with the same powerful weapon that had destroyed a planet both ships were obliterated. The radio went silent.  Valeria was now the messenger. She had a sacred duty to carry the words of one emperor to whoever would be the next. 

“Father.” she said as she couldn’t take her eyes away. 

Sulla Is Inevitable - Chapter 9

 Sulla Is Inevitable

By David Billiot

Copyright 2026: All rights reserved

Chapter 9

“Bucem, Javin, Aradar, Miacom; and the list goes on.” a senator said. “And the Republic sits and does nothing. This is impeachable.”

“How can you expect the president to send the fleet when this body has made law that he can not move the fleet?”

“That is no excuse.”

“Order.” the speaker yelled. 

“We must answer this.”

“We don’t even know who’s doing it.”

“It’s obvious. The Empire.”

“We don’t know that.”

“It can’t be anyone else. No one else has the firepower. Not Tang. Not the Mahmet. Not Ziot. Only the Empire has the resources to destroy a planet.”

“An Imperial world was also destroyed.” someone countered. 

“That is a separate matter.” the senator insisted. 

The doors of the chamber were opened and guards rushed into the chamber. White came marching in, no longer dressed in a suit and tie but in his military uniform. The surprised senators tried to protest but White pushed through. He went up to the speaker and Narius rushed up to meet him. 

“Stop it. You don’t know what you’re doing.” Narius said. 

“I have a duty.” White responded. 

“This is not how this works.”

White would not continue in one on one conversation. He pushed the button for the microphone and then his voice carried over the speaker system. “This body will either pass legislation giving me command of our forces or I will declare the body non functional and call for elections.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Narius threatened. 

“I will have command of our forces to meet this threat. This body will pass that law or I will get an executive order. But I will meet this threat.”

Narius was furious. He showed his teeth but held in the rest. “We’ll put it to a vote.” he said. Then he turned off the mic. “But make no mistake. You will not be in command of our forces. The fleet is mine.”

“Are you sure you’re still in shape for command. You have grown.” White said as he gestured at the gut of the other man. 

The proposal was put to the senators and the members of the lower house. The gridlock meant any proposal that called for full mobilization would not pass.  Instead a large expeditionary force was going to be called into service to find out what had really happened at Javin while the rest of the fleet prepared for possible war with the Empire. In the middle of the debate the ambassador from Ziot came with a message from the Empire demanding to know the reason for the sudden and brazen attack on an Imperial system. 

Vote after vote each proposal with different amendments failed. The senators were loading additional things onto it that had nothing to do with the expedition. Julius, a liberal senator under Narius, wanted to propose declaring war on the Empire outright. 

White waited patiently but it came to the end of the day and the senators adjourned. White stood up to oppose adjournment. 

“How can you wait even one more minute?”

“We must follow due process.” Narius told him. 

That night at the presidential palace White was on a video call with the president and he stressed the importance of acting quickly. 

“Use your emergency powers.” White said. 

“They will impeach me and imprison me.”

“Maer Nos was destroyed. We just learned of it. The station at Calopania is gone. We can not wait. This is a real crisis. If you can not act then resign.”

“Do you have the order ready?”

“All you have to do is sign it.”

“They will challenge it in court before the sun rises.”

“I’ll let the lawyers handle that. In the meantime we must know who is killing our people.”

The president agreed to sign the order but Narius found out about it instantly.  The order was challenged in court and a judge imposed an injunction to stop it before the executive order could even make its way to White to be carried out. White saw that the injunction was completely illegal so he planned to ignore it. This was ridiculous. White had not yet left the planet but the injunction called for White to turn around while already in FTL. 

For one, once someone was in FTL no message could be sent to them or be received from them. FTL meant communication’s blackout while traveling. 

For two, it was not possible to turn around in FTL. It can only go one way and the ship is blind while traveling.  All the light in front of the ship comes together in a white blurry spot and behind the ship there’s nothing but blackness. In order to turn around the ship has to stop first and then recalculate the motions of the stars and then initiate a second FTL burn. The stupid judge didn’t know how basic interstellar travel worked. 

Narius called the full legislature into an emergency session before the sun was up. White didn’t care for another vote. He was mobilizing the fleet and preparing to leave. 

In the senate chamber Narius brought it to a vote that there would be an expeditionary task force sent but Narius himself would be in command of it. White was needed to stay here, he argued. 

The conservatives rejected this. They wanted White in command of the full fleet. 

A compromise proposal was put forward that White would be in command of only a small task force charged not with engaging the enemy but only with discovering the truth. 

Narius of course felt this proposal was doomed to fail too.  He let it be called for a vote so it could die and then he was going to bring his own plan to a vote.  But then the proposal for White to lead a small fact finding force passed.  Julius had voted with the conservatives.  Instantly Narius was furious. He rushed down to Julius to bring his fist onto the other man’s head. 

“You idiot. What have you done?”

“ White is leaving. We have to stop him.” He called out for the chamber clerk. “Sergeant, hurry up and get the news of the vote to him before he leaves with the entire fleet.”

Narius was so mad his hands were shaking.  He was seeing red as he called one of the many community organizers who served to control the people. 

“Adolf, White isn’t going anywhere. Take the gloves off.” Narius ordered. 

The community organizer heard the command and acknowledged it. He got some men and went to the weapons locker.  They put on masks and tactical gear.  The flag above the tent changed color from light brown to dark black. That was the signal and many of the other protesters began getting ready the weapons they were not supposed to have.  

White was moving as fast as he could through the palace in an effort to finally leave when the fighting outside started. The police were ordered to retreat and even if they hadn’t they would have been overwhelmed. 

The protesters who were now an army rushed into the palace and killed dozens of people. They searched room by room for White.  They interrogated people asking where the coward vice president was hiding. When someone didn’t know they were shot. 

Then word came that White had made it out of the palace already and was nearly to the transport. The army rushed that way to take him down. The transport was surrounded and the protesters used cables and scaffolding to pin down the ship.  

As minutes passed more and more people started to show up for the fight, hoping to be the one who got the kill shot on White.  It was held as almost religious conviction that White was the most evil and terrible thing that had ever happened to the Republic. Their very democracy was at stake.  They would all die if White lived even one more day. 

White and his guards were well hidden and they went over different plans on how to get out of this situation. The underground bunker had several escape routes they could take. 

And in a surprise, Narius opened one of the doors with an access card he should not have had. 

“I see you’re in a bit of trouble.” Narius said. 

“You will not stop me. I will complete my mission.” White told him. 

“And how do you plan to do that with all of that up there?”

“Goodbye, senator.”

“It might be possible for me to give a speech that would calm the protesters down.”

“No, thank you.”

“What else are you going to do? Gun them down? That’s not your way and we know it. I’m giving you the peaceful option.”

“Then go do it. You don’t need my permission.”

“This is not about permission. This is negotiation.”

“I will obey the law. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Fine. Take your little task force.  But here is the deal.  And you can’t say no if you ever want to get out of this room. You present the terms to any world you pass as this. They will be an ally to the Republic. If they want protection, we will take full control of their plasma extractors and they must provide calories to us at a discount after we collect our quota. And they will be under me. Narius. Not you. Not the president. They will be my clients. Their production goes through my line. If you find a system under attack, you are by no means authorized to assist them until they have agreed to my terms.”

“My mission is to find out what is happening.”

“I don’t care. This is not an emergency. This is a blessing. We will bring the entire galaxy under my rule. I know you keep your word. So make me this promise and I will call off the protesters.” 

… 

“Was it wise to let him go? We almost had him.” Julius said. 

“I ought to have you. Never do that again. I control his party. Remember that.” Narius said. 

“Alright, so what is the plan, master?”

Narius smiled. “It is such a shame the murderer got away. What would cause a man like White to kill his own staff in the presidential palace. I guess he couldn’t take the pressure and his mind just snapped.” Then Narius laughed. 

In the senate chamber that day witness after witness was brought forward to describe what had happened at the presidential palace. Everyone described White as insane with bloodlust as he went on a murder spree, using Rtype HK robots to gun down anyone he came into contact with. They told of how White planned to take over the Republic and make himself king. 

The senate voted.  The conservatives were down by two senators and eight members of the lower house because they had died in the night during the fighting. Witnesses came forward to say that White murdered them.  Narius now had control of both chambers of the legislature.  A new vote was proposed to strip White of command and place the full fleet under the command of Narius. It passed and messengers were sent to intercept White, inform him of the news, and bring him back in chains to answer for his crimes. 

Sulla Is Inevitable - Chapter 8

 Sulla Is Inevitable

By David Billiot

Copyright 2026: All rights reserved

Chapter 8

White counted the days on the calendar and then did a calculation in his head. He was satisfied with the answer and then called his wife. 

“Ilia. Are the flowers blooming?” he asked her. 

“There were four of them today.” She’d given the correct response.  

“How are the girls?”

“Arguing.”

“Tell them to stop it.”

“Luke, how much longer must we stay here?”

“The situation has become more complicated.”

“If you are the vice president, surely you have the power to send me and the girls home.”

“I’m working on it.”

The rest of the conversation was tense.  He had not expected his wife to accompany him to the capital. That had happened thanks to machinations by Narius.  White was wise enough to not let his family come down to the presidential palace.  He told them to stay on a military ship in orbit.  The conflict was too hot on the surface. 

Day and night protesters camped outside the palace. They blew whistles, set off bombs, banged metal pans, and otherwise just screamed like demons possessed them. The palace was soundproof so none of it was actually bothering White physically. However, it bothered him mentally that people would be like this. Back home when he was growing up people didn’t act like this just because the other party had won an election. And why did the police do nothing? There were armed gangs organizing their own little governments and fighting wars for territory on the streets with clubs and law enforcement claimed to be helpless to stop it. 

On Atolia everyone worked. Every human had a job to go to. It was not so in the capital. Here automation did all the work. Factories used Atypes for manufacturing.  The robot arms could assemble products on an assembly line faster than a human. Every shop had a Dtype at the counter for sales.  Those robots with their fake skin looked just human enough to be friendly. People sent private messages back and forth using Btypes on wheels instead of sending messages over the internet because they were afraid the government was reading everyone’s mail. Granted it was absolutely true. The government was reading every message but it wasn’t like it was a human doing it. It was just some AI system or at most an Rtype metal robot checking it. There wasn’t anything to actually be afraid of. But people worried and so sent their messages on these little black boxes on wheels which now cluttered the streets.  

The humans of the Republic did not work. Everyone was on the MBI, minimum basic income.  So they could afford to just camp outside of the presidential palace and believe they were harassing White for being whatever they’d been told that White was this week. 

The president’s cabinet met and as usual the president himself was not there. The legislature was still in deadlock on any legislation. No budget was passed or could be passed. There was a total government shutdown as the government ran out of money. The government was paralyzed and the police were working without pay. White was managing the situation, deciding how to find money and how to pay for work that was already completed. He felt like he’d been made into an accountant rather than an administrator. 

However, the day’s meeting would be interrupted.  

“Sir, it’s an odd report. I’m not sure what to make of it. The extractor at Bucem was destroyed. So was the station.”

“It’s a pirate system.” White said. “Isn’t that right?”

“Who would destroy a plasma extractor?” one of the cabinet members asked. 

“They’re fanatical pirates. They probably did it themselves.”

“More likely revenge.” White said. “Can we get anyone there to investigate? See what really happened?”

“It wouldn’t be allowed without legislative approval.”

“That’s ridiculous.” White said. 

The other man shrugged and put up his palms. “And here I thought elections had consequences.”

“It’s outside our borders. It’s not urgent.” the war secretary said. 

… 

Benjamin had been awake for four days. He was exhausted and weary but the vision he’d had was clear in his mind. He was in his studio working the paint on the canvas hour after hour. Even when he had to take breaks to let one layer dry he dared not sleep or the vision would be lost.  

He had been getting so close to the end. The painting of the moment the first Emperor was seated surrounded by the pillars of Ravoren was nearly done. The only thing left was the final touches on the eyes.  But Benjamin had fallen asleep.  He had sat for only a moment on a rolled up tarp on the floor and sleep had taken him. 

Benjamin was startled awake by a banging on his door. His body was stiff and resisted moving but the banging came again and Benjamin got to his feet. 

“What?” he yelled. “What do you want?”

He opened the door and his neighbor, Max, was there. 

“Working hard or hardly working?” the neighbor asked. 

“I was … Oh, my painting.” Benjamin turned to look at his masterpiece and then began to scan the room for his tools. 

“My friend, it can wait.”

“I am almost finished.”

“It can wait. Please, I have an urgent matter.”

Benjamin snorted and put a finger to his nose to help him breathe. “What?”

“I want to introduce you to someone.”  Benjamin’s neighbor stepped to the side and then revealed a woman standing behind him. “Here.” the neighbor said to her. “He is like you. He won’t hurt you.”

“Who is he?”

“My name is Benjamin. Excuse me, I haven’t gone by a number since coming to the Empire. Do you have a name yet?”

“I am CT-9FF.” the woman said. 

“I used to be CT-E20 but that is no longer my name. Imperials can’t get used to numbers as names.”

“Can you care for her?” the neighbor asked. 

“Sure. Sure. Come in. Come in. I bet you have a story.”

“I must be going. I wanted to help get her settled before I reported in. There’s going to be a lot of explaining.”

The neighbor took his leave and Benjamin brought the woman into his workshop. She looked timid with her eyes down. 

“You don’t have to be afraid. We are free in the Empire.”

“I heard they would torture us for amusement.”

“All lies. Did you get an ID yet?”

The woman shook her head. “No.”

“It’s ok. I’ll take you to get one. You can apply for asylum. They’ll give you dependent status.”

“What does that mean?”

“You can work and live and no one will bother you. This is the Empire. No crime. No worries.”

“No crime?”

“Criminals are … harshly dealt with. Usually before the police can even arrive. There is no crime.”

“What do I do?” 

“You’ll need a job. But first take some time to settle in. There is a woman who is like us. Maybe you can live with her. If we live together people will think we’re a couple.”

“They allow us to be couples here?”

“They don’t care.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It will take some getting used to. How long have you been trying to get to the Empire?”

“I wasn’t. Everything happened so fast. The man, Max. He killed all those people.”

“Oh. Yes. Imperials don’t jest. Violence is their way. Here’s a tip. Don’t be violent. It works. Everyone here knows. Everyone walking the street knows that a small thing can be big violence. So everyone is respectful. Everyone is polite. It’s amazing.”

… 

Darkness was in a cell on a prison ship being sent back home. He’d lost his pay and what little money he had was confiscated. He was deported to a Republic station around a K type star and they convicted him of being a Socii off world without a license. So he was going to have to serve a year in prison before being released. Again and again Darkness had told himself that this could not be happening. But it was happening. 

The ship came out of FTL and Darkness felt the momentary fluctuation in the gravity of the ship. Then all of the sudden the ship was struck.  The lights went red and the cell doors opened.  

“Evacuate. Hull breach. Evacuate. Hull breach …” the siren said. 

Darkness had been trained on evacuation procedures for a merchant ship but he didn’t know what to do now. He started to come out with his hands up hoping to not be shot. 

“Hello?” he called out. 

There was no answer. Darkness moved from the cells to the connective corridor and saw people rushing to the escape pods. At first people just ran past him but eventually an older woman grabbed the fabric of Darkness’s shirt at the shoulder and pushed him to move.  Darkness ran with everyone and then was caught in the crowd as people were pushing and shoving to get to safety. Other people were getting out emergency spacesuits and trying to get into them before the ship lost atmosphere. 

Darkness was caught between going for a suit or going for a pod when the decision was made for him. A big military looking man pushed Darkness into a pod with eight other people and slammed the door shut. The pod launched out into space before Darkness could even protest. The loss of gravity caused Darkness to feel wrong like he might want to throw up. Then the pod accelerated and everyone fell to the back of the ship. 

Out the window Darkness looked at his home, Javin. He couldn’t recognize it. Some kind of massive energy weapon was cutting the planet from space.  The terraformed worlds were all no more than a hundred thousand years old. The crust was thin.  The weapon was cracking the planet open like an egg.  Darkness had no words. He was looking on in horror.  His world had seven billion people.  Seven billion.  How could this happen? Who would do this? And where was the Republic?