Chala Centauri

The Numbered Days of Chala

Chala has been lost to the Berg since they invaded our world 200 years ago.
My people have never known peace but for generations we have simply become a society built on the machinery of War.
The Chalusian Empire of today stands at two hundred thousand soldiers, two hundred generals and our elder council - five Chalusian war commanders - each a specialist carrier of a discipline critical to our war efforts - strategems, biologicals, chemicals, technologicals and asymmetricals.
Before the Berg, Chala was home to twenty billion souls - three sentient races and countless animal and plant species.
The Berg are the scourge of our planet, of our races - their only goal is our complete annihilation. Berg cruisers hunt my people for sport. We are to them lesser minds, unworthy of due consideration and the extinction of our species is a game to their people.
For the Berg, the destroyers of worlds, Chala is just one more notch on their belt in a game their race plays with other races of their kind.
When the Berg first appeared they seemed like Gods before our people - beautiful beings of immense power able to unmake a man with a second of thought. Our own species of telepaths with our foundations built on truth did not fathom the deceit of their impenetrable minds but we learned.
The first lesson we learned from the Berg was that there are no Gods, no saviors, no merciful deities but there are demons and they wear cunning, beautiful faces.
The second lesson we learned from the Berg was that we only had ourselves to count on and that our three races united as one could fight them, though few will likely survive it. So we fight to survive as long as we can because a few is better than none.
It is expected that my generation will be the final one of our people. We have no hope of winning this war, but we will grasp every breath we can fight for.
My name is Caden Cha'hal - last son of the Chalusian Imperial Line. In a different reality I would have been the ruler of my people, the Halveri. I would have ruled from the Seastone Palace over the greatest oceans of Chala and its denizens.  I would have forged alliances with my brothers in arms, Galeria Cha'fal, last daughter of the Falmari, the people of the land and Anderia Cha'sal, last daughter of the Saltari, the people of the air.
But this is not that world, in this world I would be ruler of dust and ash but I am  not because now I am but a simple soldier of my people, one of many in the Chala war machine. My world and people may have only a limited number of days but until the last grain of sand has run clear, I will give no quarter to the Berg demon scum.

Author's Note:
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