Excerpt: The Empire of Omegia

December 21, 2012

It had been an event long predicted by the fringes of society, though no one had truly believed it to be a possibility until it was too late. There had been no warning; astronomers had been reporting clear skies for years, when suddenly the meteor appeared. Humanity had only a scant few months to prepare for what should have been an apocalyptical calamity. The long-predicted end seemed to at last be coming.
It didn’t come as it should have. The meteorite crashed into the Amazon, as smaller fragments impacted all across the planet for a full day. Yet by some strange miracle, the Earth was given a reprieve. The earth cracking amounts of energy that should have been released by the impact didn’t come, as though it had vanished. The world’s greatest minds would spend years theorizing on what had caused this blatant breach with known laws of physics, while others argued over which of their deities had chosen to spare their lives.
But while the impact itself did not end the human race, the world would never be the same as it had before. That date, the 21st day of December, in the year 2012, would mark the day that led to the rise of the greatest empire that man had ever seen.

June 28, 2041
1940 Hours, Imperial Time
The Imperial Palace, Omegian Imperial Capital of Austin

Were one to look on this room without any context of its location or owner, there would be no indication that it belonged to the most powerful man in the world. The private office of Yeshua, supreme ruler and emperor of the Empire of Omegia, was incredibly Spartan in its appearance. The floor and walls were unpainted cement, without any pictures or rugs to provide even the slightest touch of personality. The only furniture was a small bed that would have looked better in a prison cell than a palace, an uncomfortable looking metal chair, and a large, metallic desk. The sole exception to this simplistic design was the computer systems on the desk. A complex system of wires ran up and down the cold frame, connecting a dozen monitors to various computers and outlets. Each screen showed different information, with maps, statistics, and data scrolling through on each one at a speed a normal human would be unable to comprehend at.
The Emperor sat at his desk, eyes rapidly moving between each screen. He looked to be a man in his early twenties, though in truth he was over 50 years old. Just another side effect of being a Gaided: Omegia’s super soldiers, created through genetic mutations caused by Gaia’s unique form of radiation. Yeshua wore the black and gold uniform of a Gaided, a double breasted coat which had more resemblance to a late 19th century cavalry uniform than what was usually expected from a modern military soldier. No one could remember who had originally ordered the change in uniforms, but there had been some logic behind it. Wearing body armor and camouflage seemed redundant when most bullets did little more than cause bruises, or the occasional broken bone. Yeshua had a skeletal appearance, with his near emaciated physique, high cheekbones, and long, thin fingers. His hair was dark brown, dark enough to almost be black, which was matched by similarly colored eyes. On a chain around his neck was the fragment of the Gaia Meteorite that had been used when he was changed into a Gaided. It was roughly the same size and shape of a golf ball, and unlike most fragments of the meteorite, completely smooth. When a Gaia stone was used to change a person into a Gaided, the color of the stone changed from its usual adamantine luster to a solid color; as far as Yeshua knew, his was the only golden colored stone in the world.
Gaia. Since it had come to the world almost 30 years ago, it had become the backbone of modern society, and by extension, Omegia. It was still not fully understood; decades of research had discovered various things Gaia could do, but all were still at a loss of how it did these things. It triggered massive plant growth in its surroundings, which was what had led to its naming. It somehow ignored the laws of thermodynamics, and could be made to give off massive amounts of free energy, making it the entire basis of energy production in the world. And it released a form of radiation which, when properly harnessed, could create mutations in living organisms, which had been the basis for Omegia’s creation of Gaided.
While Yeshua’s eyes still continued to dart between the many screens on his desk, his attention was increasingly focused on a single screen, which only showed a black background with the words, “AUDIO ONLY” boldly displayed. While most of this audio consisted of static, if one listened carefully, a voice could be heard trying to speak over the static.
“….uploading all the information to you right now; ETA is 15 minutes, as long as the line remains stable. Nepthys is currently attempting to see if we can deactivate the program, though probability of her succeeding within the current time constraints is low. In the likely chance of her failure, we should expect attack to occur at 0700 hours on the 29th. Targets are still unknown, except for Imperial Austin, which has a near 100% chance of being the primary target. Current GMW numbers are also unknown, but conservative estimates put them at several billion. It is likely that any initial force we try to engage them with will be overwhelmed.”
As the voice spoke, a message appeared on another of Yeshua’s monitors, reading “File Transfer Complete”. Eleven screens were instantly filled with rows of data, which scrolled by as Yeshua rapidly read through them. As he read, Yeshua pressed a button on his keyboard, and began to speak to the monitors. “Files received. I will send the pertinent information to necessary personnel. What is the status of your team?” His voice was cold, and as emotionless as his expression.
There was a silence as the message travelled, and then the response came through the static. “Heavy casualties have been experienced. Only surviving members are Nepthys, Fujin, and myself.”
Yeshua thought over the answer before responding. “Have Nepthys cease attempts to shut down the program, and begin working on extracting yourself. Support elements will be occupied, and it is likely that communications will be shut down. I trust you will be able to bring yourself home on your own.”
“Of course. We will return to Imperial Austin as soon as the opportunity presents itself.” There was a pause, and when the voice spoke again, it sounded much less formal, as though it were addressing an equal. “Hey, remember when these democratic nations were the gigantic superpowers who fought by the rules, and we were the desperate underdogs who would resort to anything necessary to win?”
For a brief second, Yeshua’s lips twitched upwards into a smile, before his face became cold and emotionless again. “How could I have forgotten? I suppose we should have been expecting a role reversal like this. I’ll begin the mobilization. Thanks to the insurgencies, we have a significant enough military presence in the domestic areas to prevent total annihilation of our high priority cities. Oh, and try to ensure Nepthys cannot get into contact with her subordinates in Shadow about this. I would prefer to control the information flow to them about this.”
“Understood, sir. General Peter out.”
The screen turned completely black, and Yeshua began to rapidly type, copying out sections of the files from Peter, and sending them to the necessary persons. “Operation Armageddon”. You had to hand it to the Free Nations of Earth Alliance, Yeshua thought. When most claimed that they would rather see the human race go extinct than see it ruled by a despot, they were bluffing. It took a special kind of desperation to actually try to put those words into action.
As he finished sending the information, Yeshua leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms back and cracking his neck. More data began to come onto his screens, but for once, he ignored it all. Recent insurgent attacks, production figures, inflation rates…. In a few hours, none of it would matter.
“Operation Armageddon.” This time, he said it out loud. Why not? The Earth had lucked out of the last apocalypse; it was probably due for one by now.
Yeshua quite nearly smiled as he thought on it more. It had been years since his empire had actually faced a challenge. The end of the world…. Exactly what he had been looking for.