Prologue
It was a clear night sky. It seemed to engulf anyone who looked up at it. A satellite, which the planet Kiyo did not have until just thirty days ago, flew by slowly between stars. It was as if it looked down upon the inhabitants of the planet, and reigned over them like the master. The satellite let out a radiance. Perhaps the moon around the Earth looked similar to it. The speckles of light that surrounded it were probably the Hime warships. Those were actually reigned over the 10 million inhabitants of Kiyo.
Out of the swarms that soared through the sky, too quickly to be a star, leaving a trail of light, there were even those were close enough to surface for its shape to be recognised. It seemed like a dream. Though she should felt hatred, Shizuru was instead fascinated by it. Fujino Shizuru was eight years old then. She was ten by the standard calendar of Earth that certain fans of the archaic used. Either way, she was very young. Though it was already past a child's bedtime, she looked up at the night sky intently from the rooftop park of the composite buildings.
A long time before Shizuru was born, back when mankind only lived upon the system called the solar system, an Oort cloud survey ship, dispatched by some nation discovered a peculiar microscopic particle 0.3 light years from the sun. It released roughly 500 megawatts of energy. No one could tell where that energy came from. There were those that said it was a white hole. There were also theories that it leads to an alternate dimension, subspace, superspace, or just some other universe. This particles then named Yuanon, and was research upon. Not long after the discoveries, so a starship with Yuanon propulsion was designed. This first Yuanon propelled starship was constructed, and dubbed "The Pioneer". Thus begin the history of interstellar colonization.
A single spaceship appeared from the Yuanon. Though that spaceship ignored all communication, it circled the planet Kiyo three times, and returned to the light engulf spherical space, leaving the population of Kiyo the 81th day of the same month of the same year, a large fleet appeared from the sphere. This time, they requested to communicate with the planet. They called themselve the Hime. That was the name of their race. Though they had dark green eyes and pale face, they looked just like mankind. In fact they all look young and beautiful. They stated- We may look a little peculiar, but we are the children of earth as well. We just tweaked our genes slightly.
The Hime supposedly ruled over 1500 inhabited worlds and more than 20,000 semi-inhabited systems. The ruling body, their nation was officially called "The Hime Empire". The planetary government immediately tried to negotiate an alliance, but High Commander of the fleet Kruger, declined their offer. Unfortunately, High Commander Kruger said "We can't do that. Our mission isn't to make allies for Empire, but to add another world to the territory of Her Majesty, The Empress. It was shock even to those who suspected the Hime of being invaders because their leading a fleet of warships instead of unarmed starships. They didn't expect a statement this blunt of their intentions. Wasn't it normal to begin with quiet negotiations first? Even if it quickly turned into threats and extortions.
"I am -" The High Commander began "-not only military officer, but also a diplomat. To tell you the truth, I am also the successor to the throne. My will is the will of the Empire. At least in dealing with you people it is. I understand your worries, so I will explain what it is like to become a subject of the Empire. But we cannot negotiate concerning your rights. They will be those of the subjects on the Empire." And so, an image of the High Commander from the Flagship was broadcast. The common populace saw an image of the invader for the first time. The wolf-like ears and intricate headpiece looked like crown point out of long golden yellow hair that reached down to her waist. The hair shines with radiance from the lighting in the warship. With a pale color face, dark green eyes, they looked more like fearies from the fairy tale than invader from space. The snow-white face was that of a beautiful young women about 25 years in age. The expression on the beautiful face was empty, as if she considered conquering the Kiyo system to be quite a boring duty. "I will begin my explanation of the relation between the Empire and its subject planets." The Imperial Princess of the Hime Empire said in plain voice. "First, your system will become property of a noble. Because of the uniqueness of the system, Her Majesty the Empress herself will become your lord for a period. Of course, Her Majesty has quite a few other business, so a Viceroy will be dispatched to the system. We considered ruling over a planet to be far from exciting, so as long as the inhabitants of the surface are able to take care of themselves, normally neither the Lord nor the Viceroy will give a care as to how you run your planet. Of course, this will applied in your case as well. You shall elect someone to represent yourselves. That person will negotiate with the Empire, or your Lord or your Viceroy as a representative of your planet. We don't care what you name the position. President, Leader, CEO, even Emperor is fine. If you wish to fool yourselves into thinking that you are independent world, you can even call him Ambassador. But that position will be recorded on the official paper of the Empire as "Planetary Representative." Of course, you can select who it is freely. Election, wars, volunteer, drawing straw, however you wish. But the approval of the Lord is required for that person to become your Planetary Representative. Usually it's just a ceremony, but he may veto someone who is outwardly against the Empire. The Lord does not have a right to tax you. In exchange, he has complete control over your planet's trade with other worlds. There are only two points that the Empire forces upon your world. First, we forbid the construction of ships capable of the interstellar travel. We will not allow ship to travel to other systems through planar and normal space. Secondly, we will place an office for recruitment into the Imperial Star Forces. We will not take recruit without their approval, so it's on volunteer term. However, we will not allow government to disallow people to volunteer to join the Star Force. Though you are currently subjects of the Empire, if you join the Star Forces, or become vassals for your Lord, you may become citizens of the Empire. In that case, you would lose your relation to the Planetary Government, and be place under Imperial government. We don't expect loyalty to the Empire or the Empress, so usually people forget that they are the subject of the Empire. That's end my explanation. If you have further questions, my subordinates will answer them in my place. After that you may decide whether to peacefully accept becoming subjects of the Empire, or to have that role forced upon you at the end of the war. I personally think that the ecosystem on this world is precious, but don't think that that fact will deter me from burning the surface to ashes if necessary. Fortunately, your city is very clearly apparent. So we should be able to destroy it with minimal effect to the surroundings".
The time limit for surrendering is in three days. President Fujino Hideshi stood in front of the communications equipment for the President with his decision, as the time limit approached.
"So, this is where you were." A familiar voices called out from behind. "I was looking for you." "Ara, yes." Shizuru turned around.
A thin and tall middle-aged man stood there. He is Yanagi Shiro, President Fujino secretary. He had been President's secretary ever since he became a council member, and had been friends since before Shizuru was born. Shizuru knew him all her life too. This man raised Shizuru as family. Shizuru doesn't know her mother. She was the director of operations at mines, and died due to an accident before Shizuru could even crawl. Fujino Hideshi felt uncomfortable about raising Shizuru by himself, and was very busy from politics, so he asked his trusted friend, Yanagi Shiro and his wife, Leena to raise Shizuru. Shizuru love Yanagi's family for she is closer to the secretary family rather than her own father. Now, Yanagi's slightly dark and thin face showed a sign of disapproval.
"Kanin na…" Shizuru apologized. She though Yanagi was angry because she going outside on such a dark, and especially dangerous night. "I'll go back to my room."
"That doesn't matter. Come with me" He said strongly as he grabbed Shizuru's wrist. Shizuru was scared because something seemed the matter with Yanagi. Her wrist felt burn.
"Where are we going?" "The Executive Office." "The Executive Office? What are we going there for?" Going to the Executive Office meant meeting with her father. What could her father want with her during such an emergency?
"Just come." Yanagi turned around and walked away.
"Aahh..Wait for me!" Since Yanagi had large strides even for an adult, Shizuru had to run to keep up with him.
"We don't have time, hurry!" the secretary didn't even turn around. He finally caught up in front of the elevator box.
"Are you mad about something? I apologize if you are, so…."
Yanagi didn't respond. He just tapped the wall of the box impatiently with his index finger until the elevator arrived. When they walk toward the carpark, Shizuru couldn't stand the silence anymore. "Can we win?"
"There's no win or lose. There's not going to be a war." An angry voice replied. "Then did we surrender?"
Yanagi glared at the little girl. "Yeah, your father decided to surrender. No, that's not it, he sold us."
"Sold? What do you mean sold….?"
"Hideshi made a deal with them. A dirty deal." Yanagi spit out with fury.
"A deal?"
"Stop repeating me like a parrot!"
"K..ka..kanin na" Shizuru shied away.
"I was against war too. We couldn't posibbly win. But I didn't expect him to make such deal! Damn that Hideshi!".
Shizuru was sad. She felt pride in the fact that she had two fathers. But the father who raise her was now cursing at her father by birth. She felt faint. The father who raised her look at Shizuru guiltily. "Kanin na. It's not your fault. I don't blame you. Like I said earlier, Hideshi made a deal. They'll announce exactly what the deal is in less than ten minutes. Once that happens, everyone on Kiyo will hate him. There will people who would want to hurt his family because they can't reach him in person. That's why I'm taking you to the Executive Office. The security is tight".
Once they in the car and drive toward the office, Yanagi asked Shizuru to turn the Hologram on.
"It's about to get announce."
A holographic man appeared in front of the steering wheel.
"There is no movement amongst the Hime forces yet. The Executive Office will be making an important announcement at 2500 exactly. That's ninety seconds from now."
It was a long ninety seconds. It was a ninety second that she prayed would go by quicker or go on eternally.
It was time. The hologram switch to a different speaker. A handsome speaker appeared, and began speaking. "I will make the announcement….President Fujino Hideshi of the Kiyo System Government, officially surrendered the independence of the Kiyo System to the Empress to be, and High Commander of the enemy fleet, Duchess of Searrs Kingdom, Deca-Commander Her Highness Princess of the Kruger Imperial, Alyssa Searrs at 2352 today. Starting today, we are part of the The Hime Empire."
Though it was not shown on the holo, the ruckus of the press that present could be heard. "Just as I thought…" someone whispered.
"But the President wishes to leave trade with other worlds in the hands of the residents of the Kiyo System, so suggested an alternative idea. An idea to make one of the residents of the planet the Lord of the Planet."
"What! Is that possible!, Who will be the Lord?" A sudden question flew out.
"It was possible. In exchange for the code to nullify the anti-space defense grid, our conquerors agree to the terms."
"That's unfair! Who is the Lord!" the question start to burning like a wild fire.
On the holo, the speaker gave up, looked above and said, "Okay. It's as most of you expect, President Fujino Hideshi is to become the Lord for our system."
The cry that followed was undoubedly one of anger.
"Hideshi gave the invaders our only weapon so that he can become a noble. I had no idea the Hime feared our defense grid so much. We may gave them a good fight. I heard about the idea after the negotiation were over, after the defenses were nullified, and the Fujino family became nobles of the Empire. Who knows what he intended at first. He didn't discuss it with me ahead of time. I suppose a mere secretary didn't need to know. All the secretary do is to take his child to a safe place. And I thought he was a good friend."
"Oh….." and so, she finally understood the reason why Yanagi was angry. He felt as if father had betrayed him.