Random stories

"Think about it," Melo can remember telling the board of executives as he rounded a faux leather seat to stand directly in front of a table. "They are mostly unknowns, and it will drag them into the wide galactic community; and the Vahoom are a small economy; it will be the war of the underdogs."

Yavis, an executive from the Naarig Federation, puffs out at the thought, the idea has traction, granted, but it is not the most compelling. "Humanity and the Vahoom have little reason to war, so a strong narrative will need to be created for the views."

"Yes," A different board member replied to Melo, not looking too impressed with the idea, "We invite the Bores onto our networks and we lose our viewers." The Humans used to be known as the 'Bores'; back then, they didn't typically mix with the intergalactic community and kept to themselves. Now they are known as the 'Cold'.

"Bah," Melo replied with a wave of his tail, "Look at this; they send people to fight, its not all just robotics. It's new. It's refreshing. It's high stakes. Our audience numbers are dropping by the calendar year, this, this war will mix it up and keep it spicy."

The Cold certainly kept it spicy alright, so spicy Melo regrets everything from that conversation onwards.

The undecided executive tapped a scaley claw on the table before looking around the room and then blinking, "Fine, but the consequences of this are on you if views drop. We will start the Vahoom and the Bores on a D rate pay package, and air it outside prime time. If they exceed targets, we will review their packages as required."

"You won't regret it." Melo cheered as he grabbed a data pad and started to send a message to his teams to initiate the conflict.

After the declaration of war between the Vahoom and Humanity was declared, the views did not increase for a good half season; in actuality, they dropped. At first, Humanity tried to talk their way out of it, and they were confused why the network was paying them? In truth, Melo must admit the first half of the first season made for bad TV. But, after a Vahoom attack on one of their fleets, things got real interesting real quick.

Humans retaliated with a lightning strike on a Vahoom resource world, using a stealth fleet to deliver their vengeance. The Bores attacked the orbiting Vahoom fleet and sent it to the high heavens. In one episode, views went from a nearly all-time low to a strong average. Next, the Humans did something so far out of scope, that Melo remembers the sickly feeling that bubbled in his second stomach, the Humans used orbital bombardment to destroy the mega factories on the planet, killing thousands of innocent workers. If the lightning strike didn't get the views, this certainly did, people were interested, people were outraged at such an act, and people were disgusted, but they couldn't look away. What would the Humans do next? Nothing seemed to be off limits to them.

The Vahoom all but cried foul play. The Humans attacked a resource-producing world, killing people, destroying factories, and enforcing a blockade which is clearly against the rules; how could they replenish their third sector fleet without the world? The Humans demanded a cease-fire and reparations to be paid, which once more made for poor viewing, but the Vahoom refused; they wanted to win.

After another attack on the Humans by the Vahoom, capturing a rather boring solar system with only two habited worlds, ratings once more skyrocketed, what were these humans who are obviously sick in the head going to do next?

The answer is partially what now has Melo holding his tail in his hands. The Humans declared 'total war' and embarked on a path of utter destruction. The Vahoom fleet in the Human solar system was destroyed in a fantastic battle, and then the Humans went for Vahoom colony worlds, destroying their defensive fleets and landing troops to take over their authorities and plunder resources. People who resisted the Human occupations were killed or imprisoned. This war turned real nasty, real quick, with a large fraction of the viewers demanding it ended, but it brought in the views and those who wanted it to continue were louder. The executives were reluctant to cancel the show. It was bringing in significant numbers of viewers, and money was rolling in from the networks showing the show.

The executives tried to ask the Humans to refrain from killing people, it is a galactic crime after all, but the Human response was cold, resulting in their new name, 'Cold'. They said the Vahoom had killed tens of thousands of their people, the Vahoom needed to surrender unconditionally or the war will continue.

It was then that people realised this was no longer war but a Struggle, and the Humans had considered it a struggle from the start. For the Vahoom, who only just realised the Human viewpoint, it quickly became a struggle for survival against another race. They begged the network, and their allies for more money, and more weapons, so for good TV, the network obliged them while asking the Humans to limit their struggle to a war. Despite the pleas of the executives, the struggle did not end, so the show continued, pulling in record views and earning a spot on prime time.

The war, the struggle, was described as 'The most authentic season yet' by some. However, many conspiracy theorists refused to believe the struggle was real, and thought it was all a part of the show. The footage from Vahoom worlds? Faked to increase the authenticity. The death reports? Those who 'died' never existed.

The struggle heated up by the day, with deaths quickly coming in horrific numbers after the Vahoom launched a successful strike on a large Human dockyard, resulting in the events of today. Melo sighs as he looks at the monitor screening this evening's show. The Humans dropped a weapon of horrific proportions onto the Vahoom's sixteenth most populated world, and killed upwards of 90 million Vahoom. They are now promising to drop the next weapon on the Vahoom homeworld unless they unconditionally surrender. The Humans had dropped a biological weapon.

Melo considers what went wrong for some time. This was supposed to be the clash of war vessels and dancing of fleets as they manoeuvre in attempts to one up another. Deaths were supposed to be minimal to nonexistent, and now millions are dead. Worst of all? Worst of all the Network wants a second season.

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Not my best work but had fun writing it. Ta.

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Submitted by K-Motorbike-12 on Sun, Aug 14, 2022 to /r/WritingPrompts/

The prompt

In a universe where war is fought by remotely controlled armies of war machines, War is now more a sport and entertainment for the masses. Until the Humans were invited to compete, resulting in major upsets. No one knew humans were crazy enough to pilot the war machines directly from inside.