By David C. Daoust
Heavy boots skiffed up the long stairway as Merrick made his way up from the underground tram terminal. He breathed in the fresh air as he took a moment to orient himself. Merrick Denali had made a name for himself as the ‘UM rep’; a silver tongue speaker; an orator. A representative from the United Moons- one that had stood before the crowd in their hour of darkness, when all had fallen. Despair overwhelmed as even the sun in sky refused to shine. He had a voice that carried wide, and beliefs that never seemed to stop fueling his reason for being.
Above, he found the port-town of Grady, ship-shape, and all put together. A far cry different than it had been been but days before, a desolate crumbling mess of ruins… Now, the stout buildings had been replaced. Clean solid walls and sheer windows seemed to gleam as though the package had just been ripped away and the newly rebuilt town had yet to be used.
One town was about the same as any other throughout the Onion; architecture and layout, was all covered in the pushbutton construction of such structures. The only difference, from one moon to another, would be the variations from the natural environment. Grady sported tall palm trees, and had a pension for piles of sand blowing throughout, if not being caught in corners of curbs, door-wells, or stairways. All of which should be expected from a town which sprouted up in the middle of the desert-moon known as Twin Crown.
Adjacent to the largest oasis on the moon, Merrick found his gaze wandering down to the water’s edge, massive palms reached to the sky in a ring around the large water basin. To the far side of the oasis, unspoiled by man-made structures, he could spot the wildlife come crawling from what shrub and underbrush could grow in such a place. All this while Merrick climbed up over one the many walkways that bridged the roadways beneath. Jip-speeders raced below, as citizens fell back into their lives, as they were, before the drone assault.
The only real difference between what was, and what is now, was the addition of the ‘Cathedral of the True Night’. While he found himself grimacing every time he gazed upon those nightmare spires, clawing at the clear blue sky, Merrick knew- the Cathedral’s presence was on him.
It was a tradeoff. A risk Denali took early in the negotiations.
Without those spires, there would have been, not only, no addition of the mining facilities that now mined metals up out of the desert and canyons, but no train system that carried such resources back to the Starport. Resources the United Moons would need to build the ‘Shipyards’ that were ever so slowly being constructed in orbit.
Fact was, the Red Faction fleet was incoming.
All those involved, even the Red Faction, themselves, were avoiding certain words.
That would all change upon their arrival.
As in, once all those ships got turned away– that fleet would start to be referred to as an ‘armada’. And the actions taken by those on the moon’s surface, would start to be called ‘sedition’. A term only avoided, thus far, because it would be hung, solely, on the head of a young boy.
Much would change- the United Moons needed an Armada of their own, and Twin Crown, while barren of the farmed resources found on most other moons, was rich in ore; in metal, in what was needed to build ships.
Merrick could not truly kick himself, too hard, for opening the door to Grady’s monument to his own religion… Truth was, even if all else failed, the tele-ministry, that was still popular throughout the Onion, might get these people back on their feet. While there was much talk of trade among moons, the true value of Twin Crown was going to be its ships– and the tele-ministries broadcasts.
The coming conflict had other moons of the UM, Umbrie, Olmsley, and Ragsdale, each in turn, already enlisting men.
Ragsdale was the closest, a moon also within the Neo Vir’ees system, known for its great plains and limitless cattle, the men there were quick on the draw, and really not so far away… there was already talk of sending some of their men to Twin Crown.
Twin Crown itself, was pooling men where they could. Much of Grady’s population were old, or all about their faith– not really the type for gun battles. There were some. Most of those enlisting were from the First Wave. And the new Judge had plans for those boys that broke what laws were actually in place.
Judge Haul had no interest in locking those boys up, said he could sentence them to service, and they would at least come out of it with something. As the United Moons first real Judge, people were eating up Raymond Haul’s views, and Merrick had no doubt such actions would be echoed for years to come.
They were being called desert ‘Rangers’. Apparently, they had a full complement of conscripted young men. In fact, some of the first vehicles constructed were small sky-speeders for the Rangers. Vehicles they’d use to scout out the surrounding sands- especially, to investigate the Battle Drones that seemed to be cropping-up more and more often.
The Moon, Umbrie, was far and away the Capital of the entire movement, had already constructed a state building– even under the nose of Alfred Zhou and his Protectorate of Second States. Merrick was not fully informed, and could only speculate what form of challenges this new entity may provide. Truth was, the removal of the city-stations Viceroys in the Iopa System, had allowed much of the UM’s actions to go unhindered… at least thus far.
Then there was Olmsley. A UM moon still owned by the Trade Consortium; transmissions had gone dark.
There were other moons involved- seemed like more every day…
Merrick had made it to his destination just as the next train pulled into the station.
One by one, massive vat-like droids, filled to the brim with what was known as ‘Ingot’, trudged on wide hefty treads from the train cars. Each filed in through the far ‘industrial’ entrance of the Starport, to load themselves into the transport ship that would then bring their load up into space.
The Ingots, themselves, were the building blocks needed to complete another section of the new Shipyards. Not to be confused with the mundane ingot known throughout history, these were the building blocks formed within the Master Molds. These where block-like droids themselves, a step up from the nanites that repaired such bodies. Ingots would set themselves, cast themselves, construct themselves, into larger constructs; to become wall or hull, even power conduits, terminals, or wires. Once set, they would then fuse to the Ingots around them, to become just that one inanimate thing.
In this case, these Ingots would at last finish the orbiting shipyards.
Shipyards that were, unbeknownst to Merrick, already known throughout the UM as the ‘Denali Shipyards’.
The following loads of Ingots, would be dedicated to building the ships.
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Here’s a quick link to the Map of the Onion.
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