3498th Chapter, 1463st volume, 4th library, 7th universe, 974.593 cycle of eternity.

When from my square of window-pane I draw the curtain to one side.

*Excerpt from the works of Grand Scholar, and The Great War expert Dja.n.u.s Todomari from the Imperium  Archives*

During ancient times, even before the First Commonwealth, the most fascinating of all stars was the one called the Gate to Paradise. It was the brightest star that one could view from the sky of the Old Capital Planet and true to its name, the ancestors thought it to be the path to paradise.

As one era pa.s.sed into another and our tools became more advanced, a man called Triremus Triariaty, who was a famous statesmen, poet, mathematician and soldier, who during one of his many ‘retirements’ from public affairs discovered that if you put several pieces of a convex, transparent crystal or pieces of gla.s.s in front of one another, you see things closer up, than you could with your bare eyes.

This simple invention was the first recorded telescope, giving birth to the start of the age of exploration and ushering in the era of ‘The Eight Renascence of The Twelfth Age’.

Upon viewing the Gate to Paradise, he discovered that it was not a single star, but a collection of stars, numbering in the thousands. This group of celestial beings was located at such a great distance from the Old Capital, that it created the illusion of a single body of light.

This revelation, while it was the start of modern science and sorcery, also had the unfortunate effect of producing a schism in the various religious and political groups that inhabited the upper echelons of power on the Old Capital.

 The extremists of the conservative faction, declared this new discovery to be ‘blasphemy’ at worst, or a waste of time and of no importance at best, while the more radical liberal elements had an almost explosive reaction, bordering on zealotry. Becoming convinced, that this was the proof/divine sign that change was needed, and if the current body of power had been wrong about this, then what else have they’ve also been wrong about or had kept hidden from them?

 But, regardless of how much merit their accusations had, it was a good enough excuse for both sides to launch a powerful political attack against the other, even though most historians nowadays agree that the conservative administration was a decent one, the liberal opposition, although not entirely cooperative with the government, did maintain a working relations.h.i.+p.

The ‘reformists’ on both sides ignored this, along with the fact that there was no economic or social need for reform and continued their agenda, regardless of how much opposition or lack of support they encountered.

Unfortunately, that change, although welcomed by some, was achieved trough b.l.o.o.d.y means, with the schism devolving, in about five generations after the invention of the telescope into civil war, with the liberals eventually triumphing, but at an extremely high cost.

They had used such immoral and barbaric means that, although effective, had as an unfortunate side effect,  the degeneration of the once forward thinking group  that won the struggle, into a dogmatic and unyielding almost cult like organization. It reinst.i.tuted measures like: slavery and serfism, extreme prejudice in their policies, and a vast network of  espionage, that in the absence of a war, would gradually take over the state and turn it into a such nightmare, that even the most extremist conservative would have rather died than even imagine, let alone live in such a h.e.l.lhole.

And considering that they were all beheaded along with their spouses and children, there was no one to argue with that counterpoint.

As for Triremus Triariaty, the poor soul had the fortune of not living to see his n.o.ble intent of scientific and spiritual discovery be twisted by what was to come.

And so, he made what was to be his ninth retirement from public affairs a permanent one and focused all of his attention on mapping the sky.

He would continue to do so, for at least eight more standard years, before old age and his deteriorating health forced him to interrupt it and he pa.s.sed away shortly after that.

On the final day of his life, he had a conversation with his dear wife Dalaria, in which it is rumored that she asked him, if he would have liked to be reborn in an age where you could journey to the stars.

‘Certainly not!’ he replied to his better half, of which she inquired why.

‘You see what we are capable of doing now, with just a single world in our mitts; can you even imagine what we could unleash, if the very stars would be in our grasp?’

Grand Scholar and Great War Expert Dja.n.u.s Todomari

Imperium Archives

378th Heavy Fleet Flags.h.i.+p.

Metternich was on the exterior hull of the s.h.i.+p, gazing at the stars in front of him, he could have done the same from within the safety of the bridge or from within his room, since being in the vacuum of s.p.a.ce was a very dangerous place to be.

Even with the protective energy s.h.i.+eld enveloping the outer hull of the sip and him wearing his armor, which was also designed for zero G combat, his safety was not guaranteed.

They would soon be pa.s.sing through a radiation belt and a small asteroid field, the belt was not strong enough to breach the energy s.h.i.+eld, and the rocks not big enough to damage the metal hull, but they would poses a danger for Metternich and his relatively thin protection.

But for the Commodore, the risk was worth it. He still had plenty of time to get back inside before they pa.s.sed through the danger zones and for the wondrous sight before him, any peril was worth it.

It’s not something you can put into words, but the view of the star filed black sky of the universe, seen on a monitor, can never compare with being in the vacuum of s.p.a.ce itself and witnessing it with your own eyes.

From his perch on what could be considered the top side of the s.h.i.+p, Metternich took in that small fragment of the vast visual wonder of the universe.

He could see the light of countless stars, that where so old they exploded hundreds of millions of millennia ago, yet continued to s.h.i.+ne brightly in the pitch black eternity of s.p.a.ce, the endless clouds of nebulas that from this distance, seemed no bigger that a speck of dust, the great planets of the system he was pa.s.sing, all where s.h.i.+ning brightly from the light of their sun, each with their own unique beauty, but every one of them a sight to behold.

The gas giants, whose immense gravitational pull could shatter any comet or other heavenly body that threatened its smaller brethren, all had moons larger than planets that could sustain life.

There where celestial bodies, that where so close to the sun that no water exited on them, instead there where rains made out of mercury encasing them and oceans of melted iron, that flowed throughout their surface, keeping company to the pitch red continents and peninsulas.

 The distant bodies of the outer edge planets, who during their countless millennia long orbit, moved so far away from the sun, that their atmospheres would freeze, encasing them in giant s.h.i.+elds of ice, giving the impression that some Ancient t.i.tan had been here and created these wondrous sculptures for all mortals to gaze at in wonder.

And this was just one small speck, of one tiny fragment, of a single flake, that was part the great field of snow that was the great beauty of the galaxy and of the universe. Far beyond this system, he knew that there laid other things of wonder and beauty, to great to have ever been imaging by mere mortals, but where the creation of something grander than themselves.

He gazed into infinity and although he could not see them directly, he knew that before him lay things like diamonds the size of planets, systems with multiple suns that graced them with eternal protection from the darkness of night.

Worlds that left their stars and where now wondering the vastness of s.p.a.ce, galaxies than seemed to be forever stationary, but where forever moving, some were on a collision course with each other, one’s that took thousands of years for it to begin, millions of years for them to finally meet, and a billion trillion years for the offspring of such a union to be born and live out their lives, until it they too would eventually become cosmic vagabonds and wander infinity, until they would also find their own pairs.

There where ice planets than burned hotter than any fire, stars that where colder than any winter, gas giants than rained diamonds, vast bodies of s.p.a.cedust clouds that stretched for light years and tasted like raspberries.

Oceans that could encompa.s.s whole star systems, a cl.u.s.ter of stars and ma.s.s so great that the laws of physics’ denied its existence, yet there it had been for countless eons, ever present, ever defiant!

 Beyond that, there where t.i.tanic black holes, that generated ma.s.sive thunderstorms, which could engulf anything. Somewhere out there was stars bigger than any sun, as a sun is bigger than a grain of sand. There would be a great field of gas and matter, which existed from the very first moment of creation and would no doubt trumpet the final rally, when the twilight of all would come.

 There would be countless bubbles of s.p.a.ce and time always being born into existence, growing, expanding, popping, and from their remains new ones would emerge, each one of them was a universe that was new and young one moment and a whisper latter, it would be old and then dying, only to be replaced by the next one.

 Nothing but a pa.s.sing moment in the infinity of s.p.a.ce, but an eternity among eternities for mere mortals!

And despite all these wonders, the gaze of the young Commodore always s.h.i.+fted back towards the rear of his fleet, where the mighty Volunian host was chasing him.

A fleet that was at least 15.000 s.h.i.+ps strong moved through this system, with a speed many times that of light, and as a result of that, they actually outran their own image. Also, the distance between them where about 20 light hours now, so what Metternich was seeing was almost a full standard day old, and the s.h.i.+ps where far long gone from where he saw them, and because of the speed with which they travelled, what he saw was more like a blur or a gigantic silvery-s.h.i.+ning fog, rather than the real image of the enemy s.h.i.+ps.

But even if that was not where the enemy really was, he could still appreciate the beauty of it, they where arrayed in what could be considered a tight formation, even though in reality there was at least 5 light minute distance between each s.h.i.+p.

 They where so many and the distance was so great, that it looked like some ma.s.sive creature, ripped out of heaven, formed entirely out of light was trying to reach him, and despite the danger of either death or worse, Metternich was not despairing over this fact, the prospect of death maybe, but not that of its size or of its beauty.

The vastness of s.p.a.ce, the greatness of the universe, the sheer difference in size between the enemy and the infinity of stars surrounding him, all reminded the commodore of his own pettiness and insignificance when compared to that of even the smallest of solar flares, the most demure of heavenly bodies, and the shortest bursts of twinkling starlight.

So, he laid there on his back, arms outstretched, eyes ever wandering across the heavens, his mind basking in its glory and his souls finding a strange comfort, in knowing just how small and insignificant he was.

“When I dream of the stars, do they dream of me……………….of anything?”

“Are dreams truly real, is reality a dream? Sometimes I wonder if anything I dream could be real somewhere out there, in this infinity, or if infinity can ever comprehend the dream?” he thought as he reached with his hand upwards, towards the ma.s.s of white s.h.i.+ps, the light of countless stars and the dark infinity before him, not in any attempt to grasp anyone of them, but rather just to check if it was real, if anything truly was.

“Dreams, reality, which one is the other and if you could know, would really want to? After all, does it really matter?”

“Sir, I suggest you come back inside, we will be pa.s.sing through the radiation belt soon.” the voice of Butz was heard trough the comm crystals in Metternich’s helmet and he reluctantly complied.

“I suppose it doesn’t really matter which is which, in the end they always end up as nightmares.”