Another draft of "Mobile Troopers: The War in the Stars"

Alone within the scenic greenhouse sat the Doge of Triegs, Fhilip Lewman. A rather elderly man, skinny in nature with a broad beard overflowing down to his belly. On his face bore a relaxed expression; a gentle frown and restive eyes. Accompanied only by a cup of half consumed herbal tea and his ever handy golden brown at his side, the Doge has been relishing in the tranquilizing ambiance of the various specimen of bird that called this exotic glasshouse home.

It was, however, to be only an definite scene. Not long would pass before a ruckus not in rhythm with the festive chirps of nature had broken out from behind him, likely so from the entrance of the greenhouse. Before sitting the teacup now, Lewman took one last sip from the ornamental container, then reached for the cane to heave himself up with. The anicent doge then proceeded to the entrance in small strides in order to find out what this rather undesirable commotion could possibly be.

“Please, it is quite urgent I must see the Doge at once!” The young man uttered with increasing irritation.

“It seems we are both falling on deaf ears, eh? I already told you it can wait. The doge is currently resting and is not taking visits right now.”

Before him was a captain of the royal guard on the verge of having a scuffle with this guest. It seemed they were locked into the other’s eyes, unaware of Lewman’s presence behind them. Lewman proceeded to let out a hoarse cough, thereby breaking their spell. “..Or so he was, before he was disturbed by two rather loud hooligans. That’s enough of that now, you two. Karl, I would’ve not expected you to lose composure so easily. It is rather unorderly as a captain of the guard, is it not?”

Embarrassed, the two of them bowed and apologized. Lewman approached the visitor with a glowing smile, “Now, young one, with that settled, what is the purpose of your visit today. Would you like to come inside for some tea?..”

The young man shook his head. “I would love to take you on that offer lord Lewman. Regrettably, with the situation unfolding as it is, it is rather important you come with me.” He paused with a blank note on his face. “My apologies, I forgot to introduce myself, “I am Jan Placo. I am a servant of Eldmon Du Habaru.” Jan said rather apologetically with a short bow. The smile on Fhilip’s face slowly dissipated at the mention of Eldmon’s name. “Eldmon? The Minster of Defense? Has something occurred at the Ministry?” Jan shifted his gaze at Karl, then back at the Doge. “Yes, you could say that. I do not know the details myself, only that he requested your presence at the Ministry of Defense. I was asked to accompany you there, if you wish.”

Lewman scratched his beard with grave ponderance, then shifted his eyes to Karl. “Very well, we will depart as soon as we can. Take Jan here and go on ahead.” After the two of them excused themselves, Fhilip headed back to his resting spot. He sat down once again, and looked up at a artistically designed marble monument of an previous Doge, Georg KÖsen. For a brief moment, Fhilip buried his face into one of his palms, then somberly fixed his eyes to meet KÖsen’s perfectly chiseled eyes. “You know what this means, right, mein friend?” He canes forward, inching slowly to the humble statue, the gaze of KÖsen looking staunchly to the future with a iron grasp of the stars.

“Once more, the Dominion’s darkest hour will be upon us. I fear the outcome will be inevitable without your miraculous tactile skills,” he stretches out a hand to mimic the former doge’s, “mein friend, why must you have perished ever so soon?” Afterward, Lewman turned and proceeded to convene with his party.

The snowy drive from the doge’s lustrous villa to the ministry was a hasty one. It was the end of December, and it was a particularly heavy weather. Sheets of snow as far as the eyes can see, piereced only by the distant glistening lights of Dombay, the capitol city of Triegs. Occasionally, bands of civilians trekking by foot or by vehicle would pass by them, with the occasional army truck racing by, packed full of munitions or riflemen. Even without being briefed, it was clear that this was more grave than Lewman could’ve imagined. It was rather reminiscent of previous events, and dared he wished this was a fever dream.

At 3:00 PM, a little over three hours since Jan’s visit, the doge and his companions had reached the main offices of the ministry of defense. Eldmon, who was wearing a a luxurious wooly trench coat—fitting for the unprecedented climate, was the first to welcome the doge as his door was opened. He was, however, cutting short of greetings. “It is rather unfortunate to drag you out to here and disgrace your presence with informality. But I would much prefer we continue our business inside.” The host of people then trekked inside to escape the aggressive weather.

The action inside the entrance hall was rather choatic, and could be best described as poultry running amok headless. As Lewman and Eldmon proceeded along the way, they would occasionally come to their senses and give brief bows before resuming their hectic duties. Reaching the stairs, a army of servants came and went carrying various paperstacks and busywork. The chaos was starting to give Lewman a headache—oh how he missed his beloved greenhouse!

Finally, the two of them entered the strategic planning room. There, they were greeted by the familiar sight of the large, rectangular gray table. Behind it, the massive projector screen and the face-up projector that inhabited the middle of it. Also present were most of the defense council, consisting of the following:

• Chief of Defense Staff, Elmer Freud
• Vice-Chief of Defense staff, Beomann Peretz
• Chief of General Staff, Lee Oderberg
• Secretary of State for Defense, Simon Mür
• Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adrian Faden
• And lasty, the Minister of Defense himself, Eldmon Du Habaru

• Admiral Habal Royer of the Royal Fleet,
• Admiral Arthur Bickler of the Delpahti Expeditionary Armada
• General Philipe Reyond, also of the Delphati Expeditionary Armada

After the customary bows, everyone sat down at the table, except for Habaru, who remained where he was. Lewman took his place at the commander in chief’s chair at the end of the table, opposite of the projector screen. ASfter waiting for everyone to settle into their seats, Habaru finally spoke, “With everyone here and accounted for, we will now begin the emergency session of the defense council.” He gestured for a servant to turn on the projector. “As you may know, the Empire of Balrossa has been conducting an naval exercise near Yuyat system for a couple days now. We have been closely monitoring these activities and had concluded that nothing was out of the ordinary.” He paused, as the servant fumbled to turn on the projector.

“However, it soon became apparent that this was going to be more than a military exercise. About two days ago we noticed a rather sharp increase of the formation participating in the exercises. It became obvious to intelligence that this would merely be a smokescreen for a invasion force assemblage. However, until the more recent incident this particular piece of information was not passed on to higher staff. Rather or not this was an act of a double agent or a simple dismissal, we may never know.”

As he continued, the projector screen flicked on, revealing a rather ominously large blob of squares that represented naval formations. Overlapping the strategic map were dotted satellite snapshots of what was indeed Imperial ships. The room was in utter silence, as Habaru took a moment to revel in the map, before he turned to face his peers again. “The incident I speak of involved a brief naval engagement with the reconnaissance ship RTN Tonto and the RTN Provo, who had taken the pictures you see here.” He paused to let out a sigh of disbelief. “The price for this infomation was the Tonto. Despite the efforts of the Provo, all hands were lost.”

“This slaughter had occurred about 2 AM last night. Caldonia fortress reported in it’s transmission that the Trovo returned with moderate damages around 7 AM this morning. After assessing the situation from the survivors they submitted their report about two hours later.”

Elmer was the first to break the silence after Habaru finished his report, “Do we know the combat strength of the Empire at Yuyat?” Habaru gestured for his servant to hand him some documents. After obtaiing them, he skimmed thru the papers. “According to the analysts aboard the Trovo, It is believed they are amassing a force of forty thousand warships, at least.”