"Commander Troun, we have approached Rosothos's orbit." A seated pilot clad in a black uniform reported.
"Hmmm, that faster than light travel felt like it was going to take forever. Let's get this done and grant the inhabitants peace. Charge up the planet killer."
"Yes sir!" The multiple pilots of the mothership all replied in unison.
A G1ER Mothership of the Celest empire beamed with red destructive light at its horizontal and sharp apex. The ship was about a fifth of the earth's moon and in it were hundreds of thousands of soldiers of various races, each dedicated to the dream of expanding the Celest empire and vanquishing its threats.
"The Radums are a people that must not be given a chance to utilize their destructive power. Our empress sees a problem even before it surfaces, her wisdom is boundless."
"In ten seconds." A pilot uttered.
"Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." The red light grew at the ship's blaster, and at the count of one, set off at supersonic speeds approaching the largely aqueous planet.
The empire's poets and writers called it the red hand of death—indiscriminate and swift. A super destructive ray created by a fast spinning ball of cosmic energy and a large photon capacitor, two of which you do not want to get close to.
The Radums were a nomadic people, and to the haughty eyes of Celest officers, primitive. They froze in shock as their planet's sky turned red, unknown to them that their destruction was moments away.
The destruction ray lanced through the world's ocean, evaporating it in an instant, and rending through the planet's crusty core. The heart of the planet was torn apart, and the masses of land that were held together burst, turning into millions of tiny pieces that eventually lost themselves to the void's hunger.
"Now, that's all done. Let's get out of here."
The mothership turned to the direction it had come from, and zoomed, disappearing into the emptiness of space.
[Two years later]
Laxia Tenthrum, human anthropologist and xenologist had just finished her study on the races of the remote planet Erezho within the Celest empire, and she was placed on a deserving leave.
"Who is a fast growing boy? You are, you are." She stuck out her tongue trying to amuse her two year old boy who was clearly not amused by her antics.
"You'll see your dad soon, I'm sure he will be quite surprised to see you. Look at you. Hmmm!"
Ardlan could see his mother's great excitement, her face red, bearing a broad smile and she turned to him too often. Just who was this guy she calls dad, he wondered.
"Strap in Ardlan, we are going pretty fast."
Ardlan knew the meaning of that, it was time to go faster than light. Laxia prepared her shuttle, switching on her shields, and with a tap on a button, the two left Erezho's orbit.
In just four hours, they were by where Rosothos used to be, however now, the orbit was desolate save for its moons.
Laxia creased her brows, confused, she was sure she did not miss the coordinates and her shuttle's ai system had informed her that they had reached Rosothos.
"Now that's strange." She unstrapped her buckle and walked to the edge of her shuttle, peering through her shuttle's viewport.
Rosothos was nowhere in sight, and its two moons each had a ring of rocks—an otherwise new development.
"What's going on? I checked through the shuttle systems before launching. Maseya run a diagnostics on the shuttle."
A large blue rectangular tab materialized by the viewport displaying the progress in running the diagnostics.
"Diagnostics complete, no faults or errors detected across the shuttle."
"As expected."
She approached the viewport once more, phasing through the holograph.
"Rosothos has two moons. Maseya, bring up any news on Rosothos in the last two years."
There was a brief moment of silence and then,
"There has been no news on Rosothos in the last two years."
"Bring up the system's map." There was tension in her voice now, everything was pointing to this one thing she did not want to believe.
The rectangular holograph spun and hovered horizontally, morphing into a circle that showed the planets within the star system.
Laxia's eyes opened wide, fear creeping into her. It was an open secret that the empire went around destroying planets it deemed too hostile for invasion, and all signs were pointing that Rosothos met the same fate.
"No, it can't be. Cene, Ëii. By the radiant throne, it cannot. No no no!" She shook her head hoping to shake off the negative thoughts.
"Is..hh..s..s. wrong…mum?"
"No Ardlan, there has been a change in plans. We will see Dad much later. Let's go get you a treat instead."
It was difficult to accept, but the ways of the empire was something Laxia couldn't object, after all, she was a prime citizen, and so would be Ardlan if Radum DNA doesn't show up in his genetic scan.
[Five Years Later, Celest Throne 1703]
"D on cosmic energy manipulation?! Seriously?" Ardlan let out an exasperated sigh and leaned on his desk. Cosmic energy manipulation had come easily to most of the class, so why was he finding iit difficult?
The young man was on the cusp of frustration. He was genetically modified, surely his mom should have altered his gene to have him intelligent, not to mention that she was greatly intelligent and a high achieving scientist as well, he couldn't bring this to her.
He let out a sigh, brushing through his trimmed black hair. Now Ardlan was tall, about six feet and three inches, he had thick brows, an oblong face and high cheekbones which he thanks his mother's genetics for, and he was handsome—a basic requirement for those genetically engineered.
He was solidly built, his frame carved with lean muscle, but apparently that was not enough to ace the cosmic energy manipulation test.
"Even Mum aced her cosmic energy manipulation classes and she can't battle with it for shit, why can't I?! Ughh!"
He swiped his results off his holographic contact lens and headed for the next class: Spacefaring, his worst class of all.
He walked out of the classroom to the cold dark gloomy corridors of the institute of which its hallways, floors and walls were extremely transparent—virtually see through, and from where he stood, he could see Jupiter's moons.
He let out another sigh and his feet left the ground. He jetted across the mothership-sized institute to get to his class, almost making the speed alarm go out, but he was very cautious this time, only going as fast as the academy allowed.
He stopped at a wide thin yet hard metal door and brought his eyes in position for small bulbous scanners above.
"Ardlan Tenthrum." The AI recognized, and the door opened.
"Ardlan Tenthrum, you are late, again." The deep voice had a beastly feel to it, and Ardlan had always hated it, it made him nervous.
"I am sorry Teacher…"
"Excuses, excuses! Just get on the trooper and hope you do good this time."
At this, several of his colleagues giggled.
"Sure, why not?" He grinned, and stre
tched forward his arms, cracking his knuckles. This could decide whether he would pass or fail the class.