The Empire Where the Sun Never Sets

He had to admit it – Titan was a bit of a shithole.

Not that there was any great amount of shit here, nor holes, unless you included craters. But the point was that Titan wasn't the first choice of destination for anyone wishing to leave Earth. If you wanted off the homeworld, you could always settle down on the moon. Or, if you wanted to travel a little further for a little more comfort, there was always Mars – the terraforming project was ongoing, and there was no shortage of work available. But people rarely went beyond that, into the region of space beyond the asteroid belt. Few people came to Titan, and its sole colony only had a population of a few thousand. And here, Captain Nigel Corbyn of the Royal Marines, had spent the last year of his life acting as a glorified security guard.

The office wasn't too bad at least, he reflected, sitting in his chair and looking out through the plexiglass window. There was ample space for him to display what amenities he'd been allowed to take with him from Earth, and there was a window that looked out onto the surface of Titan itself. A rocky world surrounded in perpetual yellow haze. Few klicks from here the barren surface gave way to an ammonia sea. Titan was the second largest moon in the Sol system, and had long been considered a prospective site for human colonization, but none of that made it hospitable. The moon had the advantage of proximity. Mars had the advantage of being at least remotely Earth-like, such as hours in the day and the level of gravity. Titan had neither. And today, he knew that the decision to colonize Titan without sufficiently planning ahead was going to bite the Three World Empire in the arse.

Here's to empire, he thought, laying back in his chair. Here's to a brave new world.

The door to his office hissed open. He didn't bother sitting up straight though – he knew who it was.

"Sir."

Master Sergeant Hikari Miyamoto. "What is it sergeant?" he asked.

"Thought you should know sir, Mister Kotick's shuttle will be touching down in five and…what?"

"What?"

"Why are you smirking?"

"Oh, it's just…you couldn't have called to tell me that?"

"That would be most inappropriate captain. Protocol dictates-"

"Protocol's going to change a lot round here," Corbyn said. "Best be both get used to it."

"Yes sir. I suppose so sir."

You suppose god damn right. He got to his feet. "Shall we?"

Hikari nodded. "Lead on sir."

He exited the room, with Hikari following. He grimaced as he reorientated himself to account for the low gravity. Maybe it came from growing up on Mars, but Hikari had never had the same trouble he'd had on Titan. It also explained why, despite being Japanese, she was fluent in English as well. The lingua franca of planet Earth had remained the lingua franca of the Sol system as well.

But of course, it was to be expected in the Three World Empire – a fancy name for the alliance between the United Kingdom, Japan, and a scattering of other nations. The three worlds of Earth, Mars, and Titan, the third of which they'd got sole claim to, and the second of which they had the lion's share of. Even on Earth, there were some that claimed it was appropriate – the British Empire had been one where the sun never set. Japan was the land of the rising sun. "Empire" remained a dirty word in the 22nd century, but as countries competed with each other to get ever larger shares of the planetary pie, alliances and empire could pay off. It was why the United Americas existed. It was why the Chinese-Asian National Conglomerate existed. It was why space was the new New World, so to speak, only without the pesky issue of native populations to deal with. If there were any Martians or Saturnians lurking around, humanity had yet to find them.

They passed another plexiglass window as they walked down the hallways to the landing pad of Titan Base 01. Corbyn looked out – more yellow, more rock, more nothing.

"The empire where the sun never sets," he murmured.

Hikari looked at him. "Pardon sir?"

"Nothing, master sergeant. Just thinking."

"About empires?"

"More about this one. I mean, we've got Earth, Mars, and Titan. Figure the sun's going to be always shining on one of them."

To his surprise, Hikari smiled. "Could be stretching it here," she said.

"How so?"

She gestured towards the window. "Hard to see the sun through the clouds sir."

He smirked as well. "Still a better view than on Venus."

"No-one's on Venus sir. Just the aerostat stations."

"Fair point. Still, even in the clouds, hard to see the sun there."

"Of course sir."

They continued walking. Titan Base 01 was a collection of prefab structures that had been dropped onto the surface via parachute, and then assembled by humans and robots. The term technically referred to the entire structure, but the colony had taken up any number of names, ranging from "Titania" to terms that didn't bear repeating (usually had to do with the human posterior). In practice, "Titan Base 01" was usually used to refer to the portion for the marine garrison – the "Royal Marines" or "Imperial Marines," depending on what part of the Empire you came from. So far, they'd never had to do any actual "marining," unless "marining" was code for "grunt work" or "security." No-one wanted to contest ownership of Titan yet. When extra-terrestrial skirmishes broke out, they were usually much closer to home, ranging from sections on the moon to asteroid rights.

They reached the airlock. Corbyn looked at one of the marines on duty. "How much longer?"

The marine grunted.

"That's not an answer private."

"Three, four minutes."

"Need something more exact than that."

"Do I look like a space engineer wanker?" He nodded back towards the airlock. "Look yourself if you have to."

Corbyn wanted to punch the bastard, but it was too late now. Security was lax here. He had to take some responsibility for that. So, following the orders of the private, he looked through the porthole. Beyond it was the airlock's interior, and beyond that, he could see a shuttle touching down. A tube would extend, attach to the shuttle, and allow its passengers to enter Titan Base without ever having to walk on the surface of Titan itself. They'd get all the pleasantries of recycled air.

He and Hikari stood there in silence.

"You're fidgeting," she whispered.

Almost complete silence.

"Stop moving your toes."

He glanced at her. "I'm wearing boots. How can you tell what my toes are doing?"

"Intuition sir." She tapped her head.

"Great." He looked back at the airlock. "Intuition."

There wasn't any time left for banter as the airlock began cycling air. The marines opened it up and stood to attention – it irked Corbyn that they were affording the visitor more respect than for him, but he couldn't do anything about it now. Just wait for the herald of the new order to come through. The man who came in with a pair of suitcases.

"Ah. Mister Corbyn."

He had to admit, the Devil was putting on a good show. He even dropped the suitcases and extended his hand.

"A pleasure, truly."

Trying to hide his discomfort, Corbyn took it. He was used to saluting what few visitors Titan Base got. Shaking hands was for civvies.

"And Miss Miyamoto." He took her hand, and much to Hikari's unease, kissed it. "A pleasure I have yet to meet."

She took her hand away. "It is nice to meet you Mister Kotick."

"Oh please, call me Simon," he said.

Kotick's fine. "Will you need rest sir?" Corbyn asked. "I imagine you've had a long trip."

"Ah, nonsense. Hypersleep…" He chuckled. "Best rest I've had in years." He picked up his suitcases and handed them to Hikari. "Please dear, take these to my quarters. The captain and I have important matters to discuss."

Hikari looked aghast, but a look from Corbyn told her to just do it. Scowling, the master sergeant obeyed.

"Shall we?" Kotick asked.

"Yes. Shall we do this in my office?"

"A sound idea. Lead on Mister Corbyn."

Captain Corbyn. He forced a smile. "Of course."

Walking back to his office, it felt longer than it had taken to get to the airlock. Corbyn was silent. To his surprise, Kotick was silent as well. It was a silence that made him uneasy.

"Mister Kotick…may I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Why come to the base? I thought the governor would be better to conduct these negotiations with."

"Governor Kojima is being seen by my colleague. I'm here just to handle the military side of things."

"The military side of things," Corbyn repeated.

"You sound amused captain."

"Mister Kotick, I think there's been an error in your briefing packet." He smirked as he opened the door to his office. "There's no military side of things on Titan. Just security."

"So far," Kotkick muttered darkly.

"Right. Of course." He walked into the room. Prick.

Maybe Kotkick would surprise him. Maybe not. Whatever. He worked for Weyland-Yutani after all, and he wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary from a corporate.

"This is your office then," Kotick said. "Nice."

Corbyn gestured to a small cabinet with whiskey on top. "Would you like-"

"Yes, actually." He began to pour himself a glass.

Yeah, sure, just help yourself.

"Would you like me to pour you one?"

Piss off asshole. "No, thank you. On duty."

"Hmm." Kotick pulled up a seat to the desk – least he was letting Corbyn keep the fancy chair. "We'll see what we do about that."

"Oh? So it's we now?"

"For now," Kotick said. He took a sip. "Hmm. Good. Must have cost a fortune."

"Not that much Mister Kotick."

"Fair enough." He took another sip. "Alright. I've done the pleasantries long enough. Now let's get down to business."

Corbyn took a seat, not sure if Kotick's mask dropping was going to be an improvement or not. Either way, Kotick took a data pad out of his pocket and placed it on the desk.

"I need you to sign this," he said. "The governor's going to sign over the assets the Company has bought in regards to the civilian sector. This is its military counterpart."

Corbyn took the pad, glanced at it, and frowned. "This is a lot of fine text."

"Normal text actually."

"Says someone from Weyland-Yutani."

"Says your superiors." Kotick frowned. "I do assume you were briefed as to what this detail involves."

"Oh, a bit." Corbyn put the pad down, leant back in his chair, and frowned. "Frankly I'm wary of any corporate influence in a military force."

"Captain, if you're wary of corporate influence in the military, you're centuries too late to voice an objection."

"I think I can raise an objection when Weyland-Yutani is currying favour with the armed forces of both the Empire and the United Americas."

"Well within the law."

"Course it is. I can still be concerned. Law decades from now may not be the same."

Kotick sighed. "Captain, do I have to spell it out to you?"

"Please do so."

"Fine." He took his last sip of brandy. "Titan's dying. No-one wants to come here. Its greatest asset is its ammonia. And as useful as that is for agriculture, there's far more pressing resources that Earth needs. The Empire may have come the furthest in distance, but it's not come the furthest in terms of power. Which is why the Company has accepted your governments' offer to purchase a controlling stake in the future of the colony. Which means that Governor Kojima is going to offer her signature, and you…" He tapped the pad. "Are going to offer yours."

"To give Weyland-Yutani effectively complete control over the marine garrison here."

"Not control, just a…guiding hand if you will."

"Also the right to bring in your own forces."

"If that's what you want to call Company security, then so be it." Kotick shrugged. "You've got a suspicious mind captain, I respect that. But the Company exists due to a legitimate merger between Weyland Industries and the Yutani Corporation. The former is the pride of the UK, the latter is a powerhouse of Japan. You should be proud that we're here."

"I think more people admired Peter Weyland than the company he founded per se."

"Perhaps. But Weyland's dead. Weyland Industries is gone. The Company's just been born."

"The Company," Corbyn snorted. "You say it like it's the only corporation there is."

"Then you know that we're not the only big dog out there, and that some others won't hesitate from biting." He tapped the pad again. "Signature please."

Corbyn just stood there.

"Captain, you have two options. The first is that you sign that pad. Upon doing so, you officially become a Company employee by proxy. You're guaranteed command of Titan Base Zero-One for at least a year, and your salary gets an extra digit added to it."

"And the other option?"

"Option two…" Kotick got to his feet and poured himself another glass of brandy. "Is that I make a call to the governor, and she makes you sign. Or if she doesn't do that, then I make a call to Earth. If I do that, it means you remain in command for a few weeks until a replacement is shipped here. After that, you get to kiss your career in the Marines goodbye." He took a sip, draining half of all the brandy in the glass. "Now, are you going to make this difficult for both of us? Or are you going to do your bloody job?"

Corbyn sat there. Even as Kotick sat down again. Even as he watched Kotick take a second, much smaller sip.

"Captain…" Kotick sighed. "I really want you to take the first option. I mean, you must see it. Titan isn't pulling in the dough. The Company's willing to invest. We do that, we bring more people, more jobs, more prosperity. What's the problem?"

Corbyn sighed – he wanted to say something sharp, but he was feeling too tired. "Mister Kotick, understand – I get how the world works. I get how capitalism works. But I'm not worried about today."

"Then what are you worried about?"

"Tomorrow. Years from now. Decades."

Kotick raised an eyebrow. "I don't follow."

"FTL travel was developed in the last decade. It's only a matter of time before extra-solar colonization becomes a reality."

"Quite right. We're already looking into the prospect of deep space hauls."

"And colonization?"

"I'm afraid I can't comment on that."

Of course you can't. He leant forward. "What happens out there, Mister Kotick? Outside the Sol system? If companies like Wey-Yu and Seegson control everything, what happens to the people beyond Sol? What happens when things can't be regulated, out there, in the dark? What happens…" He swallowed. "That's why you want Titan isn't it? It's not just the moon. It's because it's a great pit-stop from ships coming back to Earth from outside the system."

Kotick smirked. "I'm impressed," he said. "I thought you were just a regular jarhead."

"That's not a term the Royal Marines actually use."

"Fair point." He finished the brandy. "And seeing that you're an intelligent man, you have to understand that I can't comment on Company policy, or offer anything other than 'no comment' in regards to your guesses at what the Company has planned for the next few decades."

Corbyn scowled.

"And also keep in mind that my realm of expertise lies primarily in Company security, so what happens out there…" He gestured to the window, and the wastes that lay beyond. "…is really none of my business." He tapped the data pad. "Now will you please sign so we can get this over with? I want to contact my family you know."

Corbyn, with heavy heart, signed it. Not for Kotick. Not for whatever family the man might have. Rather because he knew that he had no choice. That it was better to take the apple from the Devil before it came with flies.

"Thank you." Kotick got to his feet. "We'll be in touch captain."

Corbyn spun his chair round to show his back to Kotick. He didn't look back as he headed off, nor when the door hissed open and shut. He just sat there. Looking over the wastes of Titan. Looking for the sun that was hidden beyond the clouds.

He couldn't see it.

Nor could he shake the feeling that the sun was setting on the Empire.

A/N

If I use the phrase "the empire where the sun never sets," you'd probably think of the British Empire. You'd be correct in doing so, though the concept of an empire so vast that it would be always daylight somewhere arguably goes at least as far back as the Achaemenid Empire. But it did get me wondering if the concept could be applied to extra-planetary colonization. Like, the idea that the sun would never set because the sun would always be shining on at least one planet/moon.

Course, the Three World Empire does indeed exist in Aliens lore (through an extremely obscure reference in the second film), so drabbled this up.