The face of Quasar at one time would only have showed contempt for his victim, he would have seen the family life of the man and laughed at the love that he found there, and sneered at the man`s loyalty to his people. Now though when he delved into the man`s memories he also looked for the signs that would show the intellectual side of the man.
Any of his victims might have gone on to become a great leader, if they had not been captured by Quasar, and he wanted to know more about such men. He used these trips into their minds in the hope of learning what had happened in their lives to forge these possible leaders of the future. To scan over the insights that life had given to each of them during their comparatively short lives. Quasar may have lived for many thousand of years, however, he had been asleep for all but six of them, and his actual experiences were quite limited. This was the main reason now that he looked inside the minds of his victims, to learn what they had learnt over a much longer time than his mere six years, torturing them was just an added bonus for him.
This search for knowledge did not change him though, for when he was finally through with his new victim, he let the man fall to the floor, his cries breaking through Quasar`s conditioning and into the hearts of the crew of the Andromeda. They saw themselves when they looked at the man, but they were unable to disobey their lord, Quasar; he owned their minds, their bodies, maybe even their very souls.
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The sort of power that Quasar possessed had never been known before; he was even able to control his slaves when far away from them. He used a small round electronic device that converted the wearer, after a short period of resistance, to his unwilling slave. He pushed the electrical device against the side of person’s head and pressed the centre of it. A sharp needle shot from it to penetrate deep within the head. The device amplified the will of Quasar via the starship’s computer.
The starship’s computer knew the thoughts of the crew through the device, and kept them loyal to Quasar by sending a never-ending message to them via it. It told them that they lived only for Quasar, he was their god, they loved him above all others. The message flowed quietly through their brains, quiet as the softest of breezes, but not a refreshing one. Only the strongest managed to fight their way through the conditioning to occasionally rebel against the evil within their brains. Those strong willed enough to commit an act of treachery were killed. Those who just had the occasional rebellious thought were cruelly punished before they were forced back into their nightmare world where only the dreadful feelings of guilt occasionally surfaced. Mostly though, they no longer had any thoughts of their own, only Quasar’s thoughts.
A very small part of the person still knew what was happening around them and cried out in pain at the suffering that they saw, however, they could not resist the will of Quasar; the poor wretches were condemned to a living hell. Any person who had the device wrenched from their head died instantly from the shock, for there was no easy way to be free of Quasar.
How many people he could control in this fashion, and at one time, even he did not know, but with the help of modern technology, it was only limited by the power of the computer.
The enslaved planets previously conquered by him were kept in line by some of their former comrades, one whom had been fitted with Quasar’s device and who was now his slave. As on the starships, any who rebelled against Quasar were killed instantly, but along with his death the nearest one thousand other people were also slain. A Phaser bolt from a small spacecraft that always orbited each enslaved planet screamed down to reek death and destruction amongst the populace. After the first few attempts at rebellion, people stopped to bury their dead and mourn for the living.
The orbiting spacecraft were fully automated; there were no crew aboard them. A central computer programmed by Quasar, controlled every action made by the vessel, and also Quasar`s slaves on the planet. The computer was in direct contact with him at all times through the computer aboard the Andromeda. It would tell him immediately, if the situation required it, otherwise, he would check for messages when he thought to do so, although the vast distances involved did mean a slight delay in all such communications.
Many of the starships that made up his fleet were also fully automated, and more were becoming so each week. The system left Quasar free to fight the war by connecting to his sleepers living nearby, those who should have been fighting against his forces, but were in fact controlled by him.
Chapter Three
Death of an Empire
Admiral Amundsen had battled for six long months to stop the evil tide that threatened to engulf them all, but without even the smallest glimmer of success to show that they had a chance of victory. A trail of blasted planets, now enslaved by Quasar, filled this small corner of the Cosmos. The trail of destruction had grown longer with every month that had passed, and his heart had filled with an immense anger at the sights that had befallen his eyes during this time, sights that swept every other emotion away from his heart and soul.
The latest planet to fall had been Emanuel, thankfully they had been able to rescue many of the colonists that had settled on that green and blue planet, some though had refused to leave their world and had moved deep into the forests that encircled its southern hemisphere. They hoped that they would be safe from Quasar, hidden by the trees, unfortunately, Quasar had felt them hiding there; felt them when he sent his drones to fly above the forest, using such technology allowed him to extend his awesome powers in so many new directions. However, he left them there for now, later, when he was bored he might come back for a visit. In any case, he needed to consolidate his hold on the other newly won planets that now formed the Empire of Quasar, that and to ready his fleet for the last battle of the war, the battle that would give him Rega itself.
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Neither Admiral Amundsen, nor the other survivors of this once great empire could have imagined that the once thriving area of life, that had once been the Regan Empire, would be surrendered, with its people, to this homicidal maniac, Quasar. They certainly could not foresee that the space between the planets would become the graveyard of the galaxy, filled with the ashes of war. How could they have imagined that one such as Quasar would come along to contest them for the galaxy? How could they have ever envisaged his powers, until they saw their magnificent fleets beaten into space debris?
**********
The source of Amundsen`s woes, Quasar, was definitely still changing, it was the fact that he had taken human form for such an extended period of time, for humans were so different to the Moranian reptiles, and way beyond the Mechanoids who had created him. Oh, he was still a homicidal maniac, but now he found that he could enjoy himself while torturing and killing people, or just terrorising the galaxy as a whole. Part of this change was that he could now find himself bored with life, and he bored easily. It was the fact that his own mind had fully integrated with that of his host, and this was due to the length of time that he had lived within it. Before he had been looking upon it only as a host to carry him about and to provide him with his needs. Having taken up residence within the Regan man, he now looked upon his host’s body as his very own body and he liked the sensations that he could feel through its senses, even more he liked the range of emotions that the Moranian simply had not felt. Now his mind needed something to do, to keep it occupied, something to enjoy. The old Quasar would simply have gone on a killing spree, the new version wanted more than this, sure, he liked to kill, but after a while even that began to bore him. He decided to tour some of his newly won planets, and so he left on the space cruiser Andromeda to introduce himself to his subjects. When they first saw Quasar, they saw a man who was tall, he was well over six feet, with short hair and a thin mean looking mouth, but quite dour and of course he always wore a large floppy hat. This was to conceal his the tentacle that penetrated into his host`s head, he even wore the hat on the bridge of the starship. However, they did not notice his hat when he was interrogating them, his eyes were all they
saw, and they seemed to be two large red saucers that held them in a vice-like grip, and then came the pain.
He had decided that his tour would be one of extreme pleasure, he first tortured those who would not bow down to him in complete adoration of his most glorious person, and then he murdered them. This might seem to show that he was still the same old megalomaniac, but no he was different, for he found other ways to enjoy himself. When word got around about Quasar`s need to see his peoples adoration, people began to throw themselves to the ground whenever he approached them, however, Quasar was a maniac and not a fool. Whenever he disappeared around a corner, the people would stand up only to have to fall down again when he returned minutes later. In one rather grand town Quasar returned five times over a period of twenty minutes, he almost died laughing as he watched them fall to the floor the last time. It had been raining and all of their fine clothes were filthy by the time that he finally left. He returned to his ship a happy being, and one who managed to learn something new whatever the situation.
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However, Admiral Amundsen did not have the time to get bored, for soon it would be time for the last great fleet of Rega to go to battle against the monster that was Quasar. Amundsen was afraid that this battle too would end in defeat for the Regan fleet, and this time there would be nothing to stop the march of Quasar’s forces on the planet Rega and its millions of people. With this knowledge came the responsibility to plan for this eventuality, but how could he come up with a brilliant plan now when he could not before. He walked the floor of his cabin into the early hours of the morning without a glimmer of an idea; finally, he sat down on his bed, took his head in his hands and wept. The pain and suffering of the long vicious war had taken its toll of this brave officer, and now the seeming futility of his life filled his mind and stopped him from thinking at all. His eyes wondered about his cabin, they were filled with desperation, he hardly noticed the few personal possessions that it contained, which in a space craft even of this size were not many. His eyes landed upon an old magazine that his son had given him some years ago, back in a happier time. A part of his brain almost pinged as he looked at it, but his mind refused to believe the messages that it was receiving from somewhere deep within its own recesses, what had caused a faint chink of hope to be reborn within him? He rose from his bed and picked up the magazine, which was contained within a memory stick. He put it into his computer to see what it contained, what was there within its bytes that could help him at a time such as this. He looked through the contents page and it was the third item that almost jumped out at him and bit him. ‘The rare mineral Verginite and its effects on the electromagnetic spectrum.’ Amundsen’s blood pounded through his veins as he recalled the article, his heart was beating at warp speed as he re-read it once more. The next day he got to work.
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Unknown to anyone except a few friends, Amundsen had not been idle following his trip to the planet Remus. He had been fully occupied making alternative arrangements to those of the politicians who had simply refused publicly, to countenance the possibility of defeat, even though the forces of Rega had lost every battle so far in this war. To prevent word of his plans from getting out and reaching the ears of the spies in the service of Quasar, he had only contacted the president that morning. Later, in the afternoon of the same day, he was in the president’s office and arguing for the adoption of his back up plan.
“Mr President, we have lost every battle that we have fought against Quasar, too many of our space corps personnel have been taken over by Quasar, some are sleepers, even they do not realise that they are no longer serving the empire. We move against him only to find ships that should be with us have been sabotaged by one or more of our men, men who are no longer in control of their own minds. He has a fleet manufactured by us, manned by crews that have been trained by us. In ships he outnumbers us now three to one, our only advantage, better leaders, is now negated as there is no way for us to tell if these men are still on our side. Mr President, we must have a back up plan.” Admiral Amundsen demanded of his leader, however, the president refused to believe that the result was as certain as Amundsen would have him believe.
“Admiral, you are in command of our fleet, yet you come to my office declaring that the battle is lost before it has even begun. Can you give me one good reason why I should not replace you?” President Thorson asked.
“Yes, Mr President, because you believe as I do, only it galls you to admit it.” Amundsen said in reply to the challenge.
It had taken a solid hour of intense persuasion, but finally the president agreed to his backup plan, but only on the understanding that it was a plan of last resort. In fact he had almost decided at the last moment to give the command of the fleet to another officer, before he realised that Amundsen was the only surviving flag officer, and the hope of so many. The other flag officers of the Regan fleet had fallen to Quasar during the course of the war. Anyway, he reasoned, Amundsen would not simply cede the victory to Quasar; he would rather die fighting to defend the fleet than do such a thing. He would be on the bridge of his starship fighting to the end, even if his ship were ablaze and utterly finished. The president however, insisted that Amundsen take Mikel Olsen along, the new hero of Rega, as his new captain of the flagship.
Mikel Olsen was the youngest acting captain in the fleet; he was just twenty-seven years old. His youthful appearance had fooled many, tall and thin with a mop of yellow hair, he hardly looked to be in command of a ship of the line, but he proved himself to everyone when he was forced to replace his captain. He had managed to turn the tables on Quasar for the one and only time when he had forced him into retreating behind the planet Helium to regroup his forces, and thereby allowing the remnants of the Regan fleet to scurry away to safety.
The next day, President Thorson spoke to Olsen to inform him of his promotion, and to have a quiet word with him. Olsen was ill at ease as he was ushered into the large office of the president of Rega, who was also feeling slightly uneasy at having to speak to this officer about so delicate a matter as he had in mind.
“Lieutenant Commander Olsen, thank you for coming along to my offices, I have good news for you, the council has decided to confirm your battle promotion to the rank of captain, and as the Intrepid will not be ready in time, your ship will be the Rega, the flagship.”
“Thank you Sir, the council will not regret making this choice, of that I can assure you.” Olsen stammered out, he was a little shaken by his promotion to the flagship of the Regan fleet.
“There is one thing that you can do for me Captain, when you assume command of the Rega. I want you to keep an eye on Admiral Amundsen, he is under a lot of strain at the moment and I want you to let me know if you feel that he is no longer capable of commanding the fleet.”
President Thorson saw Olsen stiffen as he took in his words; he obviously did not like this part of his new job. In fact, Mikel Olsen almost threw his promotion back in the president’s face. However, he knew that if he did this, then the president would soon find someone else to take on the job, and one not as loyal to the admiral as himself.
“Of course Mr President, I will report back to you personally if I feel that Admiral Amundsen is no longer capable of commanding the fleet.” Olsen would do so, if he felt that Rega would benefit, but only after giving the admiral a chance.
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The plan that Admiral Amundsen outlined to President Thorson called for the president and his grand council to be on the planet Remus, and at a time when the space battle was happening extremely near to the planet. President Thorson now had to present it to the grand council and ensure that they agreed to it.
When he met with the grand council just prior to the battle he first told them that as the situation was so grave, he had decided to instigate marshal law, and it would remain in place for the remainder of the war, they agreed to this as it made sense. He then had a demand to make of the grand council, that they award him th
e special rank of Dictator. They also agreed to this, for they too saw the need to have a strong leader who could make instant decisions to counter those of their terrible enemy. He then told them of the trip that he and Amundsen had planned for them all, he used the concept of a moral building trip to cover the reasons why they were to travel so near to the war zone, and just hours prior to a major battle. However, as their normal meeting place would have been in the same planetary system as the coming battle, for Rega was the third planet in line from the sun while Remus was the fourth planet; would they really be in any more danger if they stayed at home? He encountered some resistance to Amundsen’s plan, as he had anticipated, for the council members were not noted for personal bravery, but he gave the grand council no opportunity to back out. He brought a troop of the presidential guards into the council chamber and demanded that they obey his first order as dictator. The irony of the situation was not lost on them. They were then escorted to a waiting inter-planetary spacecraft.
When he had them safely ensconced on the planet Remus, within the new and secret facility provided by Admiral Amundsen, he told them the real reason behind the trip. There was much opposition at first, with some of the council suggesting that Admiral Amundsen had gone over to the side led by Quasar. However, partly due to his powers of persuasion, and partly due to the presence of the troops, troops who had been detailed to guard them by Amundsen, they reluctantly agreed to stay. Some amongst the council had obviously not realised what the plan entailed, for they would be the major players involved in this audacious plan designed by Admiral Amundsen.
The president was not alone in wondering whether the troops were there to keep the enemy out or the council in, for Quasar had many spies, and even the council members were not above suspicion. Here so far beneath the surface of Remus, even Quasar would have difficulty using his telepathic abilities to speak with anyone on the surface. Relay devices were spaced along the tunnel to allow communications between the command centre and the surface, however, Amundsen only allowed incoming signals, no outgoing signals got further than the command console, this was to ensure than Quasar was not warned about the admiral`s plans for him, should any one of the grand council be a sleeper. This made the term command centre seem a little odd, but Amundsen only gave it this title to make the councillors feel that they were actually doing something, apart from giving their lives for their people, an ideal which some of them would openly resist if they realised the full implications of his plan.