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It has been a full ten years since the rise of the Confederates in the UED Sector. Ten years of peace and tranquility in the entire Directorate. All of the Confederate mines were shut down, their ships and shipyards decommissioned and moved to the scrap heap and their planets under never-ending surveillance from UED probes. It was a fact that the Confederates were broken and would never rise again. Yet somehow, deep inside me, I know that they will rise under a new leader. All their previous leaders were brought on trial before each jury of the World Court and their sentences were the same:

‘The jury of the American Continents finds the defendant guilty and sentences him to life imprisonment without parole,’ condemned the jury of the American Continents.

‘We find the defendant, guilty,’ yelled the jury of the European Continent.

‘Guilty,’ followed the jury of the Asian and African Continents.

Ten years…ten full years. I can still hear, in my head, the echoes of shells exploding across the entire UED Sector, 582 planets all locked in a deadly battle against one another. Thousands upon thousands of ships commissioned by UED to bombard all Confederate positions whilst they did the same to the UED. In the end, the Confederates made a fatal flaw: they attacked Earth, the heart of the Directorate. The Confederacy believed that they could win, but how gravely wrong they were; 4 billion men were enlisted and 30,000 ships were produced for that single battle against the Confederacy. Needless to say, the Confederates were destroyed ruthlessly. Yet…that feeling of imminent war was brooding inside of me.

I sat at my large desk inside the Directorate HQ glancing through the numerous reports on my desk. Just then, the door opened and in swept Alexei Stukov, my most trusted friend and Vice Admiral of the UED Armada. He was in his full military attire, as usual, from the general’s suit and pinned stars down to the saber tied to his belt and his leather combat boots. I was wearing a mere business suit seeing no need to dress in military attire as those days were gone.

‘Evening Gerard,’ greeted Alexei.

I responded with a casual nod and returned to reading a report regarding Confederate movements and happenings. Being the curious cat he is, Alexei snatched the report from my hands and began reading it whilst sitting on the edge of the table. He chortled slightly at reading the report and then gave me a ‘you gotta be joking’ look.

‘I do not understand why you waste your time over such trivial things Gerard,” began Alexei…boy, here we go again. ‘The Confederacy is no more, Gerard. We’ve shut down their mines on all one hundred and fifty-five planets and whatever they produce, we take seventy percent of it all. We’ve shut down their shipyards, occupied all of their planets with Directorate Forces, cut down their troops by over seventy percent, destroyed their will to fight and on top of it all, we deny them access to the UED Sector.’

I swiped quickly at the report and caught it. ‘I know that Alexei…but…I just have this feeling, like…its going to happen, ahhhh never mind, forget it.’

The Russian gave an all-knowing look to me. ‘You know what I think, Gerard?’

‘No, but I bet you’re going to tell me,’ I retorted.

He ignored my comment and continued talking. ‘I think you just miss the glory days…the days when people looked up to us for help and guidance. Yes, I think you just miss the responsibility of having the lives of several billion people in your hands. These days, no one gives a damn about us, we might as well be living in their homes and they couldn’t care less…I miss those days too Gerard, but you must know that they’re gone and that there’s nothing that you nor I can do about it.’ He stood up and began walking towards the exit.

Could it be what he said was right? Was I truly just missing those days? No, it can’t be…those were the days that caused me so much pain…how could I possibly miss them? But still...

‘Go home to your wife Gerard, I’m sure she misses you more than the Confederates,’ called Alexei as he walked out of the room.

I looked towards the empty exit still trying to grasp at the idea of my possible longing for those days. No, it was impossible. I couldn’t believe it. I looked back at the report and saw something peculiar in the section under Confederate Planet 046…absolutely nothing in the report whatsoever. Not even the slight mention of ‘peace’ or some sort of tranquility in the sector. That was strange.

It was 6 o’clock in the afternoon, ample time to visit CP 046. I picked up my intercom and dialed 036, the number to my Captain, Zypher.

‘Yes Admiral?’ responded the Captain after a few tones from the intercom. “How may I be of service?”

‘Captain, are you busy at all today?’ I asked.

‘Well Admiral, I have to walk a few dogs around once I get home but other than that, nothing really high on my agenda.’

‘Very well. I need you to fuel up the Aleksander and gather the crew.’

‘Very good Admiral, I will have it ready in twenty minutes.’

I walked over to my closet, which was located behind my desk. Inside it housed the me of long past. I opened the closet and stared in wonderment at my Admiral’s uniform. It was a familiar yet a strange sight at the same time. Could I still be the man of 10 years past? Could I still be the famed Gerard DuGalle of the United Earth Directorate?

I shook away my fears and put on the uniform. I smiled as I looked at myself in the mirror. This was me, the real me.