The New Era Chapter 2

IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE NEW ERA
"I trust you all know why we're here," Jistap said. "We have gathered here today to form the Fabulae's order. You twelve will be rewarded for helping me save the Icelers, and so facilitating my rise to power, by having power second only to my own. Hans will receive the same honor when he returns. I suggest we get busy. Fabulae has a lot of problems, and they need to be solved as soon as possible.
"The first major problem on our agenda is war. Once this is eliminated, we can work on the other problems. Since history has proven it is impossible for nations to coexist peacefully with each other, I think the only possible solution to war is to have Fabulae ruled by one government, but as always, I would like to hear your opinion." Jistap paused to await another view, but none was mentioned. Several of those present praised Jistap for his wisdom, saying no one in his right mind would disagree with a plan like that. Pericula was disgusted with theses sycophants, but remained silent.
"Hearing no disagreement, I will move on. I propose we select one nation, and place upon its throne a man of integrity. We meet with this man frequently, instructing him to try and conquer his neighbors. He will make war on his neighbors one by one, and we will aid him in each war with our advanced technology, until he has conquered all of Fabulae. Now I realize to some of you, this plan my seem hypocritical. Here I am, preaching peace throughout Fabulae, and am advocating a terribly violent plan to get there, but I am convinced that the ends will justify the means if not in all cases, certainly in this one. I see no other option for world peace, but I would like to here yours." Pericula noted that the reaction to this question was appallingly like the first. Even more appalling was the fact that Jistap quite visibly enjoyed this reaction, and Pericula got the feeling he didn't really want to hear their opinion after all.
Beaming with pride Jistap continued. "The next thing to decide then, is which nation we select. Before this meeting I had briefly talked with Livius," Jistap waved his hand in Livius direction. Livius was one of the top historians of the city, and was one of the thirteen who had joined with Jistap."-and we discussed this problem to some extant. I'll leave him to tell you what came of that conversation."
Jistap settled back in his chair, and gave a little nod to Livius, who cleared his throat as he made a quick sweep of the room with his eyes. Then he began. "Jistap approached me and explained his delimma, not knowing which nation we should choose. He then, in his profound wisdom, suggested we choose a current world power, one that was presently in a state of superiority over its neighbors, so that it would require less time, work, and blood to establish its complete rule, rather then starting from scratch with a weak nation. I informed him that the current world power was Marram. Jistap, though wise beyond other men in almost everything else, knew little about Marram, so I supplied him with a brief summary of what the country was like. After hearing this, Jistap wasted no time in deciding that Marram was unworthy of ruling the world." Jistap moved his hands in a circular motion, a signal for Livius to expand. "Marram has been most vicious in her wars. She takes no prisoners. Her people have no regard for life, outside of their own. They live to kill and plunder."
"Surely a whole nation can't be like that," broke in Pericula. "They're are honest people in Marram just as in any other nation."
"The point here," Jistap replied, "is not how many honest people Marram has, but that the nation itself stands against everything my new world order means. Before we proceed further, we must destroy Marram. I have therefore decided to send one ship against it. Equipped with one of our most powerful laser cannons, its mission will be to level most of Marram's major cities, and assassinate its king, Azom. I trust there are no objections."
"Sir, do you realize how many innocent people this plan will kill?" asked Pericula. "I'm sure only a fraction of the people in any of those major cities wholeheartedly approve of their government."
"It is my deepest regret that the new order can not be brought about, except by blood. However, Marram must be weakened at all costs. After this attack, it will be venerable to its many enemies." Jistap paused briefly to think about his own words, before exploding into action. "No time must be wasted, the world desperately awaits. Send out a ship at once." Jistap pointed to young Sulla. "I need you to complete the mission." Sulla nodded obediently. "Move now lad, the future can not wait." Sulla quickly moved towards the hanger.


The past few days had been unproductive for Hans. He had talked to several life forms, but unlike before, none of them had seen Rodens ship. Hans had even returned to talk to Mora, but Mora had not seen Rodens ship either. Hans was beginning to get worried. Rodens could be anywhere in Fabulae. He could be killing Icelers in the South Pole, or creating havoc somewhere else in the world, or he could just be lying low. Hans situation was looking hopeless. Compared to tracking Rodens down all over Fabulae, finding a needle in a haystack would be child's play. Feeling like he had no other choice, Hans was about to contact the city, when he had a stroke of luck. He saw, on his controls, that a ship had been identified over Marram. The ship was making no attempt to shield itself from Hans sensors.
Hans was delighted. Although his computer could not tell him what the ship was doing, it was obvious the ship belonged to Rodens. Hans didn't have the foggiest idea why Rodens would choose to unshield himself, but several ideas rushed through his head. Perhaps Rodens wanted to give up, and was waiting for Hans to come and arrest him. Perhaps he wanted to fight Hans one on one. Perhaps his equipment had malfunctioned. Right now, all Hans knew was that his search was over. He set out for Marram at full speed.


Julius was gradually beginning to shape his plan. One night, when the family was away from their home, Julius would enter, steal the gun, and assassinate Jistap all before the family got back. Julius did not have to worry about getting past locked doors. Since anything The Watchers desired could be replicated, thieves were not a problem and therefore few people locked their doors.
Before he went into action, Julius decided to talk to Boon. Boon was a member of the family that owned the gun, and Julius thought Boon might provide him with some helpful information. Like most Watchers, Julius was ignorant of unsophisticated weapons. Julius had the Teacher locate Boon's location, and Julius went there to talk to him, pretending to bump into Boon accidently.
"Sorry Boon," said Julius, after the collision. "I guess I just wasn't looking where I was going."
Julius knew he would have no problem striking up a conversation with the fourteen year old Boon, probably one of the most talkative people in the city. Boon did not disappoint his prediction. "No problem Julius. Got a lot on your mind?"
Julius shrugged. "No, not really. How have you been lately?"
Immediately Julius wished he had not asked. Boon suddenly jumped into a long and detailed narrative of his activities for the past week. Julius listen silently, nodding from time to time, until Boon mentioned his target practice. "-and then I had just barely got done with the game, when my dad asked me if I wanted to go target practicing."
"Target practicing?" asked Julius, feigning dumb.
"Yeah, you know, with our gun. Anyway, I didn't really want to-"
"You have a gun?" Julius interrupted again.
"Yeah, you know that." Julius shook his head, doing his best to look puzzled. "I'm positive I told you. Maybe you forgot."
"Maybe. Do you enjoy it?"
"Oh it's okay. It gets kind of boring after a while. I'm getting pretty good. Just last month I shot two Bulls eyes." Boon noticed that Julius seemed unimpressed, so he added, "that's pretty hard you know. It took me a lot of practice to even hit the target."
Julius jaw dropped. "You mean it takes practice to hit stuff?"
Boon didn't notice Julius' shock. "Of course. If it was easy to hit things, target practice wouldn't be any fun. It's not like a laser gun at all. You could practice for years and still miss a good percentage of your targets. In fact one time my uncle, he's quite into this stuff, he was over at our house and-"
Julius drowned out Boon's babbling in his mind. It was obvious that a gun wouldn't be the best weapon to use. A dagger would probably serve his purposes much better, and getting his hands on a dagger would be no problem at all. Julius knew someone who would gladly give him one.


The scene which greeted Hans was anything but pleasant. The ship he had spotted on his control panel was obviously not Rodens ship. Although his sensors hadn't been able to tell the difference since both ships were extremely similar, Hans now could see the ship in front of him did not belong to Rodens. To start with, it was a different color, but more importantly, it had the most powerful laser cannon known to the Watchers, and Hans knew Rodens had a laser cannon equal to his in strength. What was even more disturbing was that the ship was indiscriminately killing all in it's path. It was using its laser cannon to destroy anything it could see. One shot from the cannon, and immediately a building that had previously reached almost twenty meters in height was turned into ashes, along with all its inhabitants. Hans was as horrified as he was confused. He immediately sent a message over to the other ship. "This is Hans. Who are you, and what are you doing?"
The other ship stopped it's destruction. On Hans control panel was shown a picture of the pilot, whom Hans recognized as Sulla. "Sulla? What are you doing?"
"I'm destroying Marram, Hans."
"You're what!" Hans head began to swirl greater then ever before.
Sulla glanced nervously about. "Listen, its a long story. I've got to accomplish my mission at once. Go back to the city, Jistap will tell you everything."
Hans exploded into anger. "Damn it Sulla, your going to make the time to explain this to me, or I'll fight you right now."


Sulla knocked timidly on Jistap's door. "You may enter," the voice came from inside. Sulla stepped meekly inside. Jistap was seated in a chair, facing away from Sulla and so he couldn't see Sulla's worried face. "Did you accomplish your mission?"
Sulla swallowed. "Well not exactly sir. I devastated three cities, and I was working on my fourth when-"
Jistap swirled around angrily to face him. "When what?"
Sulla shrank back, as Hans came through the door. Jistap laughed. "Oh, Hans its you. I'm terribly sorry, I should have remembered you were after Rodens. No doubt you saw Sulla's ship on your sensors and thought it was your man. I'm terribly sorry. Even if I had remembered to alert you though, I would have had no way of contacting you. I'm terribly sorry."
Hans calmly walked over to Jistap, grabbed him by his shirt collar, and pulled him to his feet. He then rammed Jistap against the wall. "You son of a bitch. I should have known you couldn't be trusted."
Jistap chuckled nervously. "Now Hans, I knew you'd be a little upset when you first found out about this, but trust me its for the-"
"Shut up you little worm. Your not going to talk your way out of this one."
"Hans I must insist-"
Hans slapped Jistap across the face, hard. "I said shut-up, you posionous snake."
Jistap smiled, as one who suddenly remembers something that brings him great joy. "Executor, teach Hans some manners." A energy bolt flew out of the walls, and struck Hans side, knocking him clear across the room. Hans lay on the floor, writhing for a few minutes and coughing violently, all the while clutching the spot where the energy had struck him. Then, he lay still, face down. Jistap stood over him. "I'm sorry Hans, but you can't talk to me like that anymore. I'm in control now. I like you Hans, I really do, but your life could be the price for not treating me with enough respect." Hans rolled over, and spit at Jistap.
"I'll never submit to you Jistap, never!"
Jistap's hand flew back, and it looked like he was about to strike Hans, when he suddenly calmed down. "Hans, Hans, I knew you would act like this. I said to myself, 'Hans is an idealist. He always wants to do what's right, but sometimes he forgets the important thing is not doing what's right, but doing that which will help others.'"
"There one and the same."
"No there not Hans. When we saved the Icelers, we had to lie. We had to trick the whole city. We had to imprison Rodens, who's only crime was wanting the truth to be known. We had to twist democracy, but damn it Hans we saved lives."
"Given the circumstances, I think we made the right decision."
"Even though we had to imprison Rodens, who had done no wrong?" Hans nodded. "Even though we had to disregard the peoples' will, disregard democracy?" Hans nodded again. "Can't you see it's the same thing Hans? Can't you see that? I'm still saving lives. I had to exile a few people because they would have jeopardized my mission. I had to throw democracy out the window, but I'm saving lives."
"Jistap, I am against the way you killed seven hundred, and exiled a thousand. I'm against the way you grabbed power for yourself."
"Now just a minute-"
"Let me finish. I'm against all these things, but I might have joined you in spite of all this if it were for one thing."
"My plan to cease war?"
"Your plan to conquer Fabulae. Think of all the lives you will destroy. And on top of that, you send Sulla here to attack civilians. Civilians damn it, have you no shame?"
"But Hans, once my plan is over, all war will cease. Think how many lives that will save."
"There's another way. You could do this more gradually, and without as much bloodshed. Just think about what would happen if you-"
"No! No Hans the new order can not wait." Jistap suddenly seemed very angry. "I'm not trying to convince you for my sake! I'm trying to save you hardship Hans! Are you with me or against me?"
"I'm against you all the way."
"Guards!" Two men entered the room in response to Jistap's cry. "guards, escort Hans into exile." Hans was roughly grabbed and dragged away. Jistap turned to Sulla. "While, what are you waiting for? Go finish crippling Marram."


"The usual Ishod?"
Ishod shook his head. "Sorry Jolk, but I have orders from the king himself that my lips may touch no wine. I will have some grape juice though."
Jolk gave a puzzled look as he poured a glass. "Why did the king order that?"
Ishod smiled. "I can't tell. It's a matter of national security."
"Oh really. I don't suppose you could-" a loud crash cut off Jolk's words. Ishod turned to see a drunk who had just fallen flat on his face. He went to help him up.
"Easy fellow. You've had too much to drink," Ishod said as he gently put the mans arm around his shoulder.
Talking thickly, the man gave his reply. "Yeah buddy, well you wouldn't say that if you knew the trouble I'm in. I'm a murderer you know. I've killed about a hundred Icelers. Now I can't ever go home again."
"Oh really, so what are you going to do now," Ishod asked, humoring the drunk.
"Oh stay in Dishon I guess. I can't ever go back to the city again, never again." Ishod gently set the man down in a chair. He had just barely straitened up, when Tomaz flew into his face.
"Ishod! Ishod! I've got great news, great news." Tomaz paused. "We'd better go outside though, I'm not sure it's public knowledge yet."
Ishod hesitated. "Can this wait? I was just about to-"
"Ishod, this is great news. Biggest news this century."
Ishod, his curiosity sparked, followed Tomaz out the door. Tomaz flew into a deserted ally, and waited for Ishod to catch up. Ishod had barely gotten into the ally, before Tomaz burst with the news. "Some one, or something, has attacked all of Marram's greatest cities, and destroyed them. Azom himself has been killed. Marram has withdrawn all of her troops, and is focusing all her efforts on rebuilding the cities. Reports are sketchy, but we know this for certain, the war is over!"