Imperfections Volume 1 Chapter 1

Volume1 The Star of Wilderness

Chapter1     Prologue

NSC*  March 6th , 270

The Interstellar Union announced an emergency command, calling Jingheng Lin, the commodore of the Silver Fortress, back to the capital planet Wotto to be interrogated immediately.

Jingheng Lin violated the command st.u.r.dily.

The next day, the headline of Wotto Daily was a furious line——“Are you revolting against the IU, Jingheng Lin?”

At the end of March, the Silver Fortress was fully blockaded. About five hundred super-s.p.a.ce ma.s.sive mechs parked out of the artificial atmosphere. The elites of the Silver Fortress were ready to kill their colleagues. Both sides refused to compromise. The deadlock had lasted for almost 48 hours till the evening of 26th.

The General Knight placed the rum and the ice cubes on the table quietly, standing at attention.

The commodore standing at the window snapped, suggesting him to stay.

Commodore Lin, who was famous as a tyrant in all eight galaxies, was fairly tall. The preciseness and appropriateness reflected from hair to feet made him to be seemingly cold-blooded. He added few ice cubes into the whisky cup causally. A virtual image embraced his left ear——his communication was on , which indicated that he was talking to someone right now.

Thanks to advanced communication technology, phones were connected with the personal terminal so that people didn’t have to “say” , instead, they just simply “think”, for the signal from brain would arrive the opposite receiver straight. In this way, the secrecy could be well ensured. The only way to judge whether the call meant greeting or wrangling was to observe the expression of the speaker.

However, Knight Lorde who was standing there silently couldn’t figure out anything from the Commodore’s face.

The modern society encouraged bluffness, openness and outspokenness. Therefore the old-fashioned conservativeness and alienation of Lin didn’t suit the times greatly. The press and his political opponents grasped these personalities to attack him, criticizing him as a scheming and arrogant person.

The “scheming” commodore ended the conversation. Feeling the taste of rum in his mouth, he spoke to Lorde as if nothing had happened: “The Admiral of the fleets asked me to make a strategic compromise―― go back to Wotto anyway.”

Lorde was confused for a moment.

“Strategic compromise.” Commodore Lin repeated the phrase ironically with a sneer and watched the current news.

The press in Wotto were all focusing on the situation of the Silver Fortress.

The new general-secretary were standing in front of the parliament of the capital planet, addressing briefly to the press. “For me, Commodore Lin is my schoolmate, my friend and most of all, my family. I swear, with my career, my dignity and my everything, that Commodore Lin is loyal to Wotto. He will never betray Wotto, meanwhile, he will never betray the Interstellar Union for sure. The queries to his loyalty are all slanderous!”

Commodore Lin was chewing an ice cube while listening to the pa.s.sionate speech.

“Jingheng, please, please give me a minute if you are watching.” The general-secretary looked into the person behind the camera deeply, “Do not let the false accusation disturb you. Do not let the misunderstanding become a conflict which will definitely hurt your beloved and please your enemy. Please, come back!  Jingshu and I are both waiting for you in Wotto. You still have families in Wotto, Jingheng!”

Then a woman beside Golden was seen on the screen. She, in black, didn’t wear any make up and looked extremely pale. The only color on her face came from her black eyes and eyebrows. However nothing could decrease her amazing beauty for even a little bit.

Jingshu Lin was Commodore Lin’s little sister in blood. She married to Golden, who had the greatest future in all seven galaxies in the IU, a year ago.

Mrs. Golden surrounded by knights didn’t say a word but looked into the air, fairly like a delicate doll.

Commodore Lin was not touched at all. He turned to ask his knight: “What do you think of the general-secretary?”

Lorde answered prudently. “He is really something.”

“Yeah, he is something, indeed. He is fairly perfect in every way but the mood he showed. I bet those not in the know would guess that I have an affair with my brother-in-law.” Jingheng laughed and turned off the screen, tossing off the liquor in his gla.s.s, “ Far too cheesy.”

Lorde took over the empty gla.s.s, speaking in low voice. “Commodore, you don’t have to pay attention to those annoying things. The Ten Squadrons are ready to fight right now. You can give the order whenever you want to.”

“To what? Rebelling?” Looking at him, Jingheng suddenly asked, “Did you graduate from the first military school?”

“Yes, Sir! I was the 260th graduates from the Black Orchid College in proud!”

“How is your family? Do you have any sisters or brothers?”

Lorde was confused, didn’t understand why his Commodore asked him these questions in such intense time. Despite of this, he answered the question seriously: “My father is in charge of an medical inst.i.tution. My mother is a teacher in Black Orchid College. I have an elder brother and a little sister.”

Jingheng smiled bitterly.

Ready to fight right now……

The young boy took it so easy——fight against whom?

Your families who are proud of you?

The Black Orchid College was the nickname of the first military school. Though the BOC was known as the cradle of high-ranks, few of the graduates were able to be one of the Sliver Fortress.

Apart from excellent grades were required. The graduates’ futures were a.s.sociated with their hometown as the result of superior political game. They took “humanitarianism” into consideration so that the soldiers should be near their home. As a fortress of the first galaxy, the Silver Fortress only accepted graduates from the first galaxy. What was more, most of them came from upper cla.s.s, including families of merchants, high-level intellectuals, celebrities and even politicians.

Therefore, the political environment was super complicated. There were generally two factions——

One was the Ten Squadrons, Lin’s own inner circle which had hunt down star pirates with him. The number of them was about one tenth of the whole fortress. The Ten Squadrons shared the bad reputation with its Commodore, famous as universal hoodie. Scandals about them were reported everyday, becoming the entertainment of folks. As everyone known, it was totally combating poison with poison when they fought against star pirates in the past.

The rest were all childes from the BOC. Complicated families and bonds behind them weaved a giant net to bind their loyalty, ensuring the Silver Fortress is stable and still and all.

Jingheng waved to his General Knight and gave an order. “Give me a suite. Send messages to customs on our way, claiming our route. I will start my journey back to Wotto tomorrow.”

Lorde was shocked. “Commodore……”

“The Admiral of fleets told me to make a strategic compromise, what else do you want? All of the Silver Fortress——” Lin paused, looking at the view out of the window. Thousands of starships were ready to fight against the unwelcome guests out of the artificial atmosphere. They shone coldly, reminding people of the silver fish in the sea. The sea was reflected in Commodore’s grey eyes.

He took off the gloves and then tossed them away. “Unarmed.”

The following day, the Jingyuan Starship flew away the Silver Fortress like a tiny boat in the sea.

The covetous and offensive machinery army out of the artificial atmosphere stepped aside and made a narrow path for the military dictator, watching his back in silence.

Unarmed starships were not allowed with transfer valves. According to normal process, the Jingyuan Starship would spend 13 days from the Silver Fortress to the capital planet Wotto via 6 customs.

The fourth day, the Jingyuan Starship pa.s.sed by the Sima planet, encountering an  asteroid stream. The Jingyuan intended to avoid it. On the contrary, the fourth squadron of the capital regarded Jingheng Lin as the most dangerous person. It was terrified that the Jingyuan didn’t arrive on time. As a result, it announced twelve level 1 alerts in just one day to stop the transient stay of the Jingyuan.

The Jingyuan were forced to detour via the Heart of the Rose——the only forbidden zone in the first galaxy which had never been explored by mankind.

On April 6th in NSC, the Jingyuan Starship were attacked by star pirates hidden in the periphery of the Heart of the Rose. The Jingyuan was destroyed while Jingheng Lin was killed.

In the capital planet, various public opinions arose from the shocking news. The Ten Squadrons rebelled. The Silver Fortress stopped working. Admiral Wolf resigned furiously to the IU Council, for he lost his favorite subordinate. At the same time, more horrible incidents happened. The pirates, who were driven out of the eight galaxies by Commodore Lin ten years ago, came back again, attacking a civil route in the sixth galaxy. The messy Military Committee’s hysteretic reactions caused great injuries and deaths.

The series of events is historically called the Silver Catastrophe.

Large demonstrations spread like a plague, from the sixth galaxy to the first through transfer points.

Wotto altered their att.i.tude under pressure. They pacified the Military Committee first, then shut their mouth about forcing Lin to come back. Mouthpieces of government praised Commodore Lin as much as they once had criticized him, as if they had lost their memory overnight.

The “scheming” commodore became the gift for human, the greatest man in history.

The funeral was held in Wotto. A suite Lin never wore stood for him, getting into the Martyrs Cemetery of Wotto. The ticket price was unbelievably high and Commodore Lin was in Guinness World Records for died so expensively. Jingheng Lin, of obituary fame.

Jingshu Lin was in black voile on that day, presenting back the compliments from every celebrities showed on the funeral. She was genuinely demure and extremely elegant in such an occasion.

She was so beautiful——you would praise her beauty for sure if you had seen her——and coldhearted as well.

Golden the general-secretary stepped closer. Jingshu, as fragile as a dodder, winded his arm, accepting his care compliantly, letting him help her put on her hat. Then she sat in silence, looked at him with worship and dependency, listening to his performance full of sorrow, and wiped her crocodile tears with handkerchief time and time again.

Reporters photographed her for a while then scattered in dull. Mrs. Golden was exactly the same as she acted at a fancy fair in opposition to throwing pets’ bodies into outer s.p.a.ce. She was so ba.n.a.lly stylish that the press could use the same photos from other activities as well.

Jingshu was still, although the press all scattered.

She was like the most beautiful flower blooming lonesomely in the wind—— whether there was anyone watching or not, she just simply appreciated herself.

Now the beautiful flower smiled in tears. So stunning was she that the light of humanity seemed to be shining upon her comely features. She watched Golden choking with sobs on the stage elegantly. She thought: “A life for a life, I want you to die.”

It had been for more than 200 years since human lived in peace after the start of the new sidereal era. But for now, a grisly crack appeared on the tender surface of the peace——

Notes:
1.     NSC: the New Sidereal Calendar