Paradise Fortress
Violated, but not lost
Chapter 1: Beginning of the End
AE 35 (Alliance Era)
Paradise
The “capital” of the Galactic Alliance, your home.
Such as it is.
Nowadays, there’s little left of the Galactic Alliance as the war with the Trazz continues to go badly. Planets are starting to fall to them on a more regular basis.
Perhaps more might have been done had the Galactic Alliance been formed much quicker than it was. The territorial battles and old grudges of the former powers of the galaxy was so great that it’s amazing it was formed at all.
However, complete extinction is a strong motivator for survival at the cost of pride and it still might not be enough.
And yet Paradise still remains the shining beacon of hope and safety.
So far, that is true. You remember the Trazz armada directly attacking Paradise when you were just a young child. Enough ships to blot out the light from the star the planet orbits. It was pretty damn scary.
No, it was REALLY fucking scary. You thought you were going to die.
You held your mother’s hand tightly that day and she told you not to worry for the defenses would hold. And when they did in a spectacular light of destruction, you stopped worrying at least until after the reports that the remainder of the fleet retreated from the sector.
However, your father didn’t quite have the same sort of faith in the ancient Xont defenses. He told you that one day the defenses may fail and that YOU will need to prepare yourself and it was from that point on, you were encouraged to train for a military career.
You suppose even without the threat of the Trazz, your father would have encouraged a military career given that he served in the Galactic Alliance and his father before him, and before that you had ancestors that served the Terran Empire.
In fact, two of your ancestors that first claimed this planet for the Terran Empire and discovered its powerful technology are still considered great heroes; well at least within humancentric mindsets.
So that was your life as chosen for you. Military academies until you came of adult age and then a military career.
You did fine. Not outstanding, but certainly above average. You suppose that was mostly due to not wanting to disappoint your parents along with natural ability.
Still, you thought your scores might have gotten you into the position of the Galactic Alliance Force, however you were assigned to serving in the Paradise Security Force instead. An honorable position to be sure, but not really an exciting one. After all this was Paradise was it not?
Of course can any place be truly safe when you’re sharing the planet with billions of others, some of which are other alien races?
During your first year on the PSF, you soon learned what was entailed in keeping Paradise… well a paradise. You also learned just how lucky perhaps even a little “sheltered” you really were compared to most.
Not that you’re complaining, but after breaking up the last few lizard riots in Raptor City One and busting up an Elojin run sex slave ring, you’re wondering if it was always this bad here or had you just been oblivious to just how things really were here.
And this place is considered to be “sanctuary.” Makes you wonder how long any of you are going to last.
Right now you’re sitting at your desk inside Haven One’s PSF headquarter pondering your future. Lately you’ve been feeling like you’ve just been going with the flow in life while others make the major choices.
You start filling out your paperwork on the last lizard riot that you just broke up and then you hear that familiar voice.
“Hey Maykl, you still filling out all that bullshit? A bunch of lizards got rowdy as usual, stamp it and let’s clock out.”
It’s your partner Lisa.
“Yeah, well you know there’s a little more to it than that. In fact did you fill out your own stuff?” you ask.
“Of course not, I’ll do that shit tomorrow.” She replies.
“And THIS is why I do it. One day you’ll be happy I actually took the time to dot the I’s and cross the T’s because of someone accusing us of doing something we didn’t actually do.”
”The only thing I want you to do, is me from behind when we’re…”
“Shhhh! Fucking hell, you want someone to hear?”
Lisa puts her hands on her sides and frowns at you.
“Are you serious? You don’t think people in this precinct already know about us? And so what if they do?!” she exclaims.
“Yes, I’m sure people know, but there’s such a thing as decorum and there’s also all those fucking rules about dating in the work place. Last thing I want is to get hauled in and scolded for stupid shit.”
“Dating? Is that what you call it? All we do is fuck. You never actually take me anywhere.”
“What about Dolok’s?”
“That’s the fucking bar that EVERYONE goes to after work!”
“I pay for your drinks and meal most of the time, I think that counts…what, did you want me to take you somewhere else?”
“What I want is for you to stop having a stick up your light blue ass about protocol and rules all the damn time!”
You’re in no mood for this right now. You knew it was a bad idea to get involved with a co-worker, but it’s not like you’ve got much time to go find someone outside of work and you respect Lisa’s abilities well enough. She’s just a little too “loose cannon” at times and it’s always a concern in the back of your head that it’s going to get her killed one day.
Which is probably another reason you’ve kept your relationship mostly physical and work related. Probably too attached as it is seeing as you’re already putting down your work pad.
“Fine! I’ll just do this shit tomorrow and be as irresponsible as you are! Let’s go.” You say.
Lisa smiles and is already grabbing you by the arm pulling you from your desk as you’re standing up.
“Mmm, you’re always so nice and cool on this hot ass planet.” She says.
“I’m convinced being a handy portable cooling unit is the only reason why you’re with me. Thank the cosmos for favoring Indrul genetics I guess.” You reply
“Which one of your ancestors was the Indrul that found this planet anyway?”
“Great great great grandmother, though she didn’t really find the planet so much as she was part of the scouting squad lead by my great great great grandfather.”
“That’s the one you were named after right?”
“Yeah, he was human of course. Anyway you’re good with going to my place tonight I trust.”
“Wait, you’re not taking me Dolok’s?”
“You just implied you were sick of that place, plus I figured why waste valuable time?”
You and Lisa go back to your place and after hearing her brag about her reckless engagement of five Vexak anarchists when you were temporarily split up during the riot, you both soon do what you came here to do.
Lisa soon falls asleep afterwards and you grab a spare work tablet out of the nearby end table and fill out that report you were working on earlier. Eventually you fall sleep shortly after sending it in.
The next morning you feel warmer than usual since Lisa’s glommed on to you like she’s attempting to drain all the cold from your body. In fact when you attempt to even move a little, she just clutches on to you harder, even making an annoyed grunting sound in the process.
As you remain temporarily trapped, you mind wanders back to what you were thinking about yesterday, which was your future.
In any case, it’s another hot day in Paradise and as for what’s on the agenda, well that’s up to you.
Get ready for work
Look into a new job field
Play around on your tablet (Info dump galore!)