Proving himself

Aniello walked into the elevator and pressed a button for level 743. He had dressed in his usual black boots, leather gloves, navy-blue trousers, tight waistcoat, white shirt, and peaked cap but now he was a higher rank. Instead of his light-blue ribbon around his cap he now wore a red ribbon with a light-blue strip through the middle which showed he was a senior commander who was part of an active planetary attack.

The level number kept rising from 300 to 400 to 500. The time between each increase seemed to extend as he got closer to level 743. His pulse was fast and strong, his legs won't stop shaking, sweat formed uncomfortably under his cap, and his hands became itchy in his gloves. As much as he wanted to press a different button and go back to his father he knew that it was a terrible idea to skip a meal he was invited to by a member of 'The Five Star Points'. The guilt wouldn't even compare to the damage the action would do to his family's honour.

Aniello's thoughts were stopped in their tracks by the echoing 'ding' of the elevator's doors opening to a large hall. It's interior was completely different to every other room of the ship. There was no bare metal to be seen and polished, black marble covered to entire floor. The walls were made out of a beautiful, grey wood panelling with pictures of generals of both walls either side of the room while a grand picture of 'The Five Star Points' loomed over the whole hall.

Aniello's boots tapped along the marble floor as he made his was over to the long, rectangular table in the centre of the table layed out with a black table cloth and white plates. Many people were talking amongst themselves so it wasn't heard. The table was slowly being filled by other senior commanders and commanders so Aniello joined them in the seat marked with his name by a thin metal stand holding a sign. He sat down and everyone stopped talking. All eyes turned to Aniello as instantly people whispered to each other asking why a child was sitting at the table.

Once again all talking stopped as Achille entered to hall a the other end to everyone else. She marched over to the head of the table with her arms crossed behind her back. She slowly scanned across the room as everyone stood and saluted her. Aniello rose quickly to keep up with everyone causing him to stand out slightly. Achille stopped faced Aniello

"Senior commander Aniello. I see you accepted my invitation to this meal. I trust you will make good alliances and truly help in the planning of our next planetary attack." said Achille. Nearly every mouth in the room dropped open as senior commanders and commanders turned to Aniello.

Never before had a child, no, anyone been invited to a meal and planetary attack meeting by Achille or any of 'The Five Star Points'. All the saluted dropped and everyone sat down. The final few people arrived, saluted, and located their seats before the meal began.

Course after course Aniello was amazed by the quality and expensiveness of the food that was served to them. Meat from solar systems obliterated centuries ago, sauces made from fruit that only grew once every decade, and even drinks that cost more than the entire ship and it's contents combined. Aniello didn't miss out of the opportunity to finish every scrap of food on the plates put before him as to not waste the generosity of Achille.

Finally, the meal ended and more than half the people at the table stand up, saluted Achille, and made their way to the elevators. There were only twenty people left including Aniello and Achille. The empty chairs disappeared into the floor and the table changed shape into a circle. The black table cloth was removed by a servant leaving only a large screen in the middle of a metal table. The chairs people were sitting in moved by themselves and positioned everyone equally around the table with Aniello opposite Achille.

Achille began the meeting by standing up and tapping twice on the screen. An assortment of symbols appeared where she tapped and a 3D hologram of a planet with four moons formed. Markers rose up at points over the planet and some moons indicating points of interest and a few landing zones for infantry.

"I'd like to start this meeting by introducing Aniello. He has taken over his father Bodean's position as senior commander and will be assisting us in planning our attack on planet Hagtury." Achille nodded towards Aniello before continuing. "These markers are locations our spies have discovered to be either a location of economical importance, a location that's densely populated, or a location where weapons that could pose a threat are being held. So, what ideas have you got?" asked Achille as she sat back down.

A commander next to Aniello stood up and zoomed the hologram in on a deep mining zone in the middle of a large island.

"I believe that this location would be perfect for a core explosive. The inhabitants have already mined past most of the strong rock so we can use the destruction of their planet as a way to force them under our control. It will be easy to infiltrate and set up as the only people their are weak workers and the nearest military force is on a different island." proposed the commander. Nearly everyone nodded in agreement. It was a cheap and quick way to put pressure on the planet's leaders and get what they want out of this attack. It also meant a quick and easy destruction of the planet could be achieved with the press of button.

The commander sat down and gave a smug-side look at Aniello. Aniello took this as a challenge and stood up himself. Well, at first he was frozen in fear and tried to play it off by looking over the hologram but he had to think of something quickly.

"Why don't we do nothing at all?" Aniello finally proposed. The whole table erupted into confused questions and Achille slammed a fist on the table. The sound was like a explosion as it echoed through the hall reverbing back onto everyone.

"What do you mean do nothing?" asked Achille, clearly annoyed by Aniello saying something so stupid at such a serious meeting.

"Well, we have spies already on the planet. All we need to do is find two or more nations that are quite tense and nearing war. Then we just give them a little push to start the fire that'll destroy their planet. All we need to do afterwards is keep adding fuel to the fire until we're left with an economically and socially weakened planet. The resistance would be very little if not non-existent." said Aniello.

Everyone was silent as the processed the plan through their heads a few times before one senior commander clapped a few times.

"Well, I think the boy has proved himself to be quite the mastermind when it comes to the destruction of planets. The plan is quite genius. We won't need to send in anymore personnel and we can focus on our planets while this one destroys itself." said the senior commander.

Many more ideas were proposed and repeated. But in the end everyone could see that for a planet like this Aniello's plan was perfect. It was at that point the voted to go ahead with Aniello's plan and start a war on Hagtury. All the senior commanders and commands saluted Achille and left through the elevators but Achille kept Aniello behind.

"I'm assuming this means you'll take up my deal for your silence?" asked Achille.

"To be honest, I respect you too much to have said anything anyway. You don't have to keep me part of the loop on this attack anymore if you don't want to." said Aniello.

"Heh, you're too go of a strategist to give up on that easily. It's not that I trust you but I know you won't tell anyone. Now get out of here and go to your father. You'll be overseeing the start of your war soon."

Aniello saluted Achille who nodded to him. Aniello turned and left the room to go see his father.