wrinkled—these days when he looked in the mirror he didn’t even recognize himself.
The overlord was saddled with the immense responsibility of safe-guarding the remnants of humanity, while still finding ways to strike back against the Sythians from the shadows of Dark Space. It was a responsibility which he often felt he was ill-suited to bear. He was too inexperienced to be an adequate commander, but everyone was looking to him with false hope, expecting him to have the experience necessary to guide them safely through these troubled times.
Dominic sighed and turned from the view of Firea back to his desk. There was a holoscreen there, dark and silent, just waiting for him to activate it and review the day’s events and mission reports. This was where he monitored the state of the empire and made decisions with far-reaching consequences, sending orders to commanders which would seal their fates as well as those of the thousands of fleet officers serving under them.
Dominic waved his hand before the screen, gesturing for it to wake up. There were twenty five messages awaiting a reply. Opening his mail, Dominic scanned through the list, trying to find a place to start. One message in particular caught his attention—from Captain Storian, in charge of the command training program. Dominic opened the message and read the details. It was a letter of introduction for a nova pilot, Adan Reese, who Captain Storian recommended for immediate promotion and admittance to the command training program. Attached were the pilot’s simulator scores from the Rokan Defense. He’d broken the previous records in that mission by a startling margin, using some very unconventional tactics to do so. Captain Storian went on to say that it was either a fluke or a sign of significant command potential, and it was worth finding out which.
Dominic found he was curious despite himself. He’d set up the command training program in the hopes of someday finding a commander worthy to replace him as commander in chief of the fleet. Could this pilot be such a man?
A quick look at Adan’s identicard revealed he was too young to have much real experience, and the pilot’s psychological evaluation further revealed he was ill-suited to command—arrogant, rude, impulsive, and selfish. Dominic found himself shaking his head. Perhaps with time and training Adan could become something more, but personalities were hard to change, and it took more than good sim scores to be a good commander.
Dominic sighed and swiveled his chair back to gaze down on Firea. He would have to keep looking, but for now it seemed he was stuck with the job of leading humanity’s last remaining forces to a dubious end.
What an honor, the overlord thought, and absently he wondered how the history books would favor him and his last command of the Imperium, but then he realized that he didn’t have to worry about that, because it was more than likely that there would be no history books to speak about him.
Not human ones anyway.
Chapter 11
E than awoke in darkness to the blaring noise of an alert siren. Together with the siren, a computerized voice droned on, “Lieutenant Adan Reese, report to the ready room. Lieutenant Adan Reese, report to the ready room. . . .” He sat up and rubbed his eyes tiredly. What time is it? he wondered. “Lieutenant Adan Reese, report to—”
“All right, I’m up already!”
The alarm cut off, and the lights came on automatically, blinding him with their brightness. Ethan blinked a few times quickly and looked around a small, unfamiliar room with dark gray walls. He lay on a single bunk. Opposite him, at the foot of the bed, was a locker, and hanging on the walls were a few photos of people and places he didn’t recognize.
His head was pounding, and his nose felt stuffy. Ethan pressed a hand to his forehead and squinted his eyes shut. He didn’t even know where he was. What had happened last night?
Then he remembered: he’d
The overlord was saddled with the immense responsibility of safe-guarding the remnants of humanity, while still finding ways to strike back against the Sythians from the shadows of Dark Space. It was a responsibility which he often felt he was ill-suited to bear. He was too inexperienced to be an adequate commander, but everyone was looking to him with false hope, expecting him to have the experience necessary to guide them safely through these troubled times.
Dominic sighed and turned from the view of Firea back to his desk. There was a holoscreen there, dark and silent, just waiting for him to activate it and review the day’s events and mission reports. This was where he monitored the state of the empire and made decisions with far-reaching consequences, sending orders to commanders which would seal their fates as well as those of the thousands of fleet officers serving under them.
Dominic waved his hand before the screen, gesturing for it to wake up. There were twenty five messages awaiting a reply. Opening his mail, Dominic scanned through the list, trying to find a place to start. One message in particular caught his attention—from Captain Storian, in charge of the command training program. Dominic opened the message and read the details. It was a letter of introduction for a nova pilot, Adan Reese, who Captain Storian recommended for immediate promotion and admittance to the command training program. Attached were the pilot’s simulator scores from the Rokan Defense. He’d broken the previous records in that mission by a startling margin, using some very unconventional tactics to do so. Captain Storian went on to say that it was either a fluke or a sign of significant command potential, and it was worth finding out which.
Dominic found he was curious despite himself. He’d set up the command training program in the hopes of someday finding a commander worthy to replace him as commander in chief of the fleet. Could this pilot be such a man?
A quick look at Adan’s identicard revealed he was too young to have much real experience, and the pilot’s psychological evaluation further revealed he was ill-suited to command—arrogant, rude, impulsive, and selfish. Dominic found himself shaking his head. Perhaps with time and training Adan could become something more, but personalities were hard to change, and it took more than good sim scores to be a good commander.
Dominic sighed and swiveled his chair back to gaze down on Firea. He would have to keep looking, but for now it seemed he was stuck with the job of leading humanity’s last remaining forces to a dubious end.
What an honor, the overlord thought, and absently he wondered how the history books would favor him and his last command of the Imperium, but then he realized that he didn’t have to worry about that, because it was more than likely that there would be no history books to speak about him.
Not human ones anyway.
Chapter 11
E than awoke in darkness to the blaring noise of an alert siren. Together with the siren, a computerized voice droned on, “Lieutenant Adan Reese, report to the ready room. Lieutenant Adan Reese, report to the ready room. . . .” He sat up and rubbed his eyes tiredly. What time is it? he wondered. “Lieutenant Adan Reese, report to—”
“All right, I’m up already!”
The alarm cut off, and the lights came on automatically, blinding him with their brightness. Ethan blinked a few times quickly and looked around a small, unfamiliar room with dark gray walls. He lay on a single bunk. Opposite him, at the foot of the bed, was a locker, and hanging on the walls were a few photos of people and places he didn’t recognize.
His head was pounding, and his nose felt stuffy. Ethan pressed a hand to his forehead and squinted his eyes shut. He didn’t even know where he was. What had happened last night?
Then he remembered: he’d
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