2944:03:27: Admiral Mira Petrenko liquidates nearly all of her assets to accrue the funds needed to build a new UNO Armada, one made up of 1 of every modernized ship design available to the United Nations of Olympia's arsenal. Some like the Agincourt battleship had seen some modernization and advancement in design, allowing for twice as many super-heavy weapons to be loaded out. Others like the Malaria class supercarrier were entirely new designs, while ships like the Flagship Knox Miroslav were theoretically possible but had never been constructed by any civilization before.
President Heidi Wright, President of the Alien Reform Organization, elected President of the United Nations of Olympia and Vice President of the Union of United Nations feared only one person in this world. It was the Admiral behind the door she approached, the door opening before she even reached it.
'I knew you would be coming,' Mira said, speaking directly to her own mind. Heidi made sure not to think any fearful or improper thoughts. As far as any Olympian scientists could tell, Mira was the most powerful individual psionic ever recorded in history, and Wright wanted no embarrassments to be thought in front of so venerable an Earthling hero.
'Think to me, what is on your mind young one?' Mira said.
Heidi was 279 years old. It was funny for anyone to call her young.
'Everyone is young to me. When you are older than all of the surviving civilizations in the galaxy everyone is young to you.'
I must be frank, I am not here to discuss the pleasantries of passing time. I probably have another 30 to 50 years left to live, and when Hanisi, Chan and I are gone, I worry disaster will befall our democratic state. The disaster will be you. I want you to promise that you will never turn your back on all life, that you will never give up protecting and nurturing all the life of the galaxy, you will be the guardian for all we have fought alongside and against whatever happens to our state.
Mira calmed Heidi's mind, and thought to her this will always be done. She did not save as many friends and foes as possible from the prethoryn just to see them undone by the strife that arises in the course of eternity. Satisfied, Mira bid Heidi to leave.
Science Director-General Chan Mao, representing the Citizens for Freedom Foundation, was the next to enter.
You are unilaterally building a private armada? This is highly illegal! Chan's thinking was erratic, loud & unfocused.
'Do not fret. The armada is being built with my funds, and upon completion of a round-the-world tour, I shall turn over our ships to the Union of United Nations.'
Do you still support the UN mission? Chan thought, probing Mira's psychic aura for any emotional information she could use to determine the truth.
'I have never abandoned this ethos from the start. How can you question me? I have been elected President more times than any of you and have always served
all of our galaxy's peoples, never with a thought for taking power myself. I understand you fear me running for campaign, but I will only serve as I am needed.'
Despite feeling that Mira was sincere, Chan Mao was still not satisfied.
'If you still support the UN mission, never run for Presidency of the UNO ever again, never run for Presidency of the UUN.'
Mira Petrenko felt the emanations of the shroud speak with a little ire. She thought to Chan Mao: I am more dedicated to the mission than you could ever know. I have seen centuries of despair, whole worlds consumed by the scourge, burned to glass by my ships, seen all of my friends give their lives on my orders to save the UN mission. I saw the galaxy grow dark, and for a while, only I was the light. I passed that torch, the flame of Olympia, when Earth fell. I am not the petty despot you fear I am.
Dissatisfied, Chan Mao nevertheless left.
Governor Hanisi Tshonyane and Vice-Director Antonietta Giordano were the next to arrive, representing the Internal Growth Association & the Non-Interventionist Forum. Both only wanted the assurance that Admiral Mira Petrenko would wage no wars and maintain peace; satisfied that Mira was not waging war on the technosphere or the Adnori, they left.
Chief Science Officer Marcia Longfield arrived next, representing the Citizen Elite Union.
Mira Petrenko expected Marcia Longfield to supplicate before her, pleading her to seize control of the UN headquarters and so establish herself as the immortal Empress of Olympia until the end of eternity. Surprisingly, she did not.
'Why are you here? If not to plot abominable murder? Get out before I make all of your followers believe they are fanatic egalitarians.' Mira asked.
'Delightful! But you misunderstand.' Thoughts: Confusion?
Marcia projected an image: It was her.
Admiral Mira Petrenko, Admiral of the United Nations of Earth, President of the United Nations of Earth, Grand Admiral of the Bright Entente, President of the United Nations of Olympia, Admiral of the United Nations of Olympia, Grand Admiral of the Union of United Nations, Mother of the Church of Spiritual Philosophy, the Immortal general, beloved war hero and the Chosen One of the shroud, the great negotiator between the material and psionic planes, the Admiral who spoke to the gods and rejected their demands.
Marcia thought: You do not need to seize power, Admiral Petrenko. You already have it all. What use are the elections when no one can argue against you? Your will forces all to obey the UN mission, makes them willfully obey the tenets of freedom. I am here to propose a closer alliance between our factions, but is that really necessary? A thousand years from now, you will still be here, you will still be running our government. You cannot be anything but our leader, and the galaxy will prosper because of you. Marcia Longfield took her leave, replaced by Himari Amano.
All of them do not see the true threat, Himani Amano thought. We have served the galaxy so faithfully and it is about time we serve humanity.
Mira interjected: To serve the health of the whole galaxy is to serve humanity. I hope you can see that.
Amano retorted: What of the humans who have been nerve stapled? This is a clear violation of the UN charter on human rights. Aliens have turned millions of humans into obedient drones, some even into living cattle! Will we stand by idly while supporting a contemptible federation, using our funds and our technology to build an army that will undo us?
Mira responded: Your points are not invalid, your methods are. If I cannot convince you to tolerate the Kraxroz and their more unpalatable habits, then I shall simply have you ponder on how we are supposed to end atrocities upon human populations through your methods - supremacy will not help humanity. Now go.
Fabiana Diaz arrived next, to Mira's surprise. She was an Admiral, and a faithful follower & student of hers.
I won't turn the UN into a theocracy, if that's what you want, Mira thought jokingly.
Why not? Fabiana replied.
Answering everyone's prayers would leave me with no spare time, Mira thought. More seriously she pondered... I would be able to steer the UN of Olympia away from the false whisperings in the shroud. I don't think I am ready to be a god though, I should quite like to die one day.
'I don't understand?' Fabiana was confused. 'Why would an immortal want to die?'
Mira thought back: Why would an immortal want to live? Nobody wants to die, but few seriously have to think about living forever.
I was born in a time where the Earthlings achieved Utopia, and the galaxy was getting better. I was born in a time where people stopped talking, but started thinking. One whole planet and I was born into it, a psionic child in a psionic world, can you imagine babies used to be born without mental links to their parents? And yet, the old humans still had some sort of link between parent and babe. I wanted to be an Olympian - you see, back then, we had Olympic games, and the winners were called Olympians. It's a funny coincidence, but I stopped believing in coincidences centuries ago. I certainly stopped believing in them when I heard the shroud. I was a good swimmer you see? Very good at it. When the Prethoryn invaded Earth I was 26, and I was a great swimmer. My family were not so good, but have you ever seen a prethoryn swim? It doesn't take them too long to learn, you see. I lost my family then. Some may have survived, but after this many centuries... We had no idea where all of our defence forces had gone, all of our generals were gone. The world went dark, the prethoryn were everywhere, you'd spend nights just hoping they'd miss your shelter and find someone else instead. A lot of people gave up then, but I didn't. Our armies and generals returned to counter-attack, and the government announced everyone would be leaving right? A lot of people do their best to help evacuate, a lot choose to remain put, fortifying Earth - they knew they couldn't stop the prethoryn, they were ready to go with Earth. I joined the Navy, I got promoted to Admiral by the age of 35, they liked my ability to organize long-range logistics, repair and resupply away from spaceports. Which was great, because often our spaceport was destroyed by the prethoryn. When I was 37 the President asked me if I was ready to make the ultimate sacrifice. A tiny, superdense concentration of psychic energy had been found, and I was the human most likely to survive its absorption without mutating into a ball of malevolent plasma. I became the Chosen One.
I saw Earth burn, and everyone I know die, I saw it twice. Once in the shroud, another over the skies of Earth, I was immured within the Avatar of the shroud - a ball of baleful psychic energy, and even I could not overcome the prethoryn. I was 77 years old when I first elected President, and did my best to make Olympia work. I rebuilt the United Nations from scratch! Not bad, but definitely not where I thought I'd be when I was a child, on the other end of the galaxy rebuilding the world.
I could do it. I could be this world's god, protector and guide. Do you want to know something classified? My science division did some research, and they confirmed my worst fears. Every time I have been elected, support for the Freedom and Xenoist factions increases dramatically! Why? My talents are mostly for war, I am not actually that charismatic of a speaker. Yet the effect I have is reliable and observable, so much so, that my science division made a breakthrough in applied psionic theory and found the effect of my ambient psionic power over everyone's free will is 60% as powerful as an orbital mind-control laser. And you know what? An orbital mind-control laser can only affect one planet. My power knows no such limits.
I have built the perfect Utopia in the stars and no soul can refuse me, no soul can be unhappy in my world.
The people of this universe are making me their god and I cannot stop them. I'd be better than one of the gods from the shroud fucking everything up, but that doesn't make deciding any less difficult. And I don't think any of this is a coincidence. I have survived too many coincidences, too many close calls, I have seen that fate exists. Just think that for a moment, every species alive today owes its survival to me. What are the chances that something, or someone meant for me to find that psychic energy? What if there is someone trying to use me to control the cosmos?
'You should kill them,' Fabiana thought.
Perhaps, Mira concurred, perhaps she should find them and ask some questions, and kill them if needs be.
Questions, questions, Mira was often questioning
To be or not to be, what was will be...?
Admiral Mira Petrenko's armada was assembled in a year. Ships believed to be theoretical in construction were manifested in reality, brimming with superheavy kinetic ordnance, arc-emitters, graviton lances, ultra-cannons, prethoryn strike craft, plasma weapons, missiles, photon torpedoes and gauss weapons.
After commissioning a few more Agincourt battleships out of nostalgic fondness for the workhorse of the Peacekeeping fleet, Admiral Mira Petrenko set forth her fleet for a round-the-galaxy tour of every Capital world, celebrating the era of cosmic utopia!
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Topic: Stellaris: Never leave Earth (Read 90939 times)