The Betrayal

Sofia Perez has always wanted to be more than just a soldier, even though she holds a high rank in the military. Compared to other civilizations, she found that they are far more powerful than Earthlings.

She has always wanted to become a ruler, one who rules others, not a person who is ordered by others. So, when she found out that the third prince was being held by the higher-ups and that he would be used for negotiations, she decided to use this as her only opportunity.

She knew that Earthlings were no match against the Faran Empire, so while the meeting spaceship was being built by the two civilizations, she decided to talk to other Farans and convince them to gain power against her betrayal. She would aid them in snatching the prince.

She gained their trust by disclosing top-secret information and sending the coordinates of where their fleet would pass to prepare an ambush.

She was ordered by General Fulka to guard the prince in her spaceship. She couldn't believe how lucky she was. She had also convinced 100,000 spaceships to betray Earthling by promising them powers after their mission.

She was trying to destroy her coworkers' battleships to have a chance to escape with the Faran fleet that came to aid her. But it seems that the higher-ups already understood her betrayal, since many were targeting them. Suddenly, she saw the decoys from Jeanne's spaceship come near her. She smiled and activated the right signal for them to not explode, but what she did not expect is that from the black color, they suddenly emitted a red color and exploded.

With that, more than 10,000 spaceships from both Earthlings and Farans were lost. She was dumbfounded.

Jeanne was looking at the destructive scene in front of her with satisfaction. Her vice-commander was looking at her with surprise in her eyes. She was a captain in her 30s with a Middle Eastern look.

"Major, how did you do that? I'm sure that Perez activated the right signal, so how did our lures explode?" she asked.

"Simple, since the last 6 months, I had also worked on a new type of lures, which I didn't have time to present. But this is really useful," she replied with a smile.

"In fact, since we never know what could happen, I was one day wondering what could we do if one of our spaceships was being controlled or stolen by the Farans and used against us. So, I can give them the order with identifying the ship serial number that must be destroyed. If it uses the right signal, it will glow with a red light."

"Truly ingenious, Major."

Since then, all the spaceships that betrayed them were destroyed with terrifying speed, but they could see that the Faran fleet was stronger than those they had fought until now. But since they were mostly outnumbered, they were eventually destroyed.

The battle lasted for 3 hours, with 300,000 spaceships lost. Even though they won, they could see that they won just because the Farans were in numerical inferiority.

Sofia's ship was captured, and she was locked in a cell where she would be judged after the negotiation. Near the spaceship where the negotiation would be held, in a more gigantic spaceship than the one from the prince, there was a man who was nearly 4 meters tall.

He was the general of the 10th army of Faran. His name was Gilga Loyra, and he was a sinewy man.

"It seems that our plan has failed. What a shame! But that human girl was really an idiot. Did she really think we would have given her a star system to manage? We would have killed her and all the humans if she had been able to retrieve the prince," he thought while shaking his head.

"The humans will be coming soon. Nothing must go wrong for our prince's safety. Understand?" he said to his commanders.

"Yes!" replied the commanders.

Five days later, the human fleet arrived at the meeting location between the two civilizations, and negotiations began.

The Earthling and Faran federation representatives were now sitting in the meeting room on the negotiation spaceship, with the third prince held hostage by Arthur, who had a laser gun pointing at his head.

"We will now begin the negotiation. Don't try anything funny or the prince's head will explode, and I don't think you want that, right?" said the Earthling's president.

'They really know that he is an important person to the emperor, huh! And if his head is destroyed, mine will be too by his majesty the emperor,' thought Gilga with sweat rolling down his face.

"Of course, don't worry, but you know what will happen if you do, right?" replied the Faran representative.

"Yes, nothing will happen if we negotiate calmly, right?"

"Obviously."

Everyone was tense.

"This is our demand," she said, while presenting a virtual panel.

On it were written all the requests that the humans wanted:

First: A peace treaty with no war between Earthling and Faran for 200 years.

Second: The Faran will give five star systems to the humans.

Third: The Faran will give three advanced technologies to the humans.

Gilga burst out laughing. "Do you really think we could accept these outrageous requests?" he asked.

"Maybe, but we will negotiate until we find a path of agreement," she replied.

During the following three days, Earthling and Faran tried to gain advantages over each other, with Earthling trying to get as much as possible, and Faran trying to give as little as possible. Multiple times, there were almost breakdowns that could have become a catastrophe, but they finally reached an agreement.

"Before signing the contract, let's review it one last time," said Emma.

"Right," replied the Faran general.

"Earthling will safely return the third Prince of the Faran empire, Leykos Faran, and the Faran empire will accept these two conditions: first, a peace treaty between the two civilizations will last for a hundred years, and second, the Faran empire will give three star systems to Earthling. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes, let's sign it. I want to get out of this shithole," said the Faran general, while the Earthling's president smiled in response.

After signing the contract, the third prince was returned to his civilization.

"With that, I will say goodbye."

The two fleets left the location and returned to their respective civilizations.

Inside her spaceship, in her room, Jeanne was with Leo and Arthur.

"It seems that we have gained a hundred years of development," said Jeanne.

"Right, we first have to use these three star systems that we gained wisely, to use their resources," replied Arthur.

"We have a whole century to develop our technology. We need to prioritize this," interjected Leo.

"What are you saying? Resources come first."

"Of course not, it's technology that comes first."

For the last three years, the two of them had been at odds with each other when they were together with Jeanne. Yes, they had both fallen in love with Jeanne and were trying to outdo each other to win her over.

Unfortunately, Jeanne was not adept at dealing with such situations, and could not even fathom why they were acting this way. She assumed they were just teasing each other for fun.

Ironically, Jeanne was the only one who couldn't see the truth. Even the fathers of the duo were aware of their feelings and would chuckle every time they saw them. But they had to fight this battle alone, without involving their son, they said.

During the three-week journey to Espoir, the higher-ups discussed how to use the three new star systems. Their first plan was to transform all the planets to make them habitable for humans and establish three new armies. They debated who would be in charge and who would be transferred to the new worlds.

Their first choice was to assign the 8th army to the farthest star system from the Solar system, and they thought Jeanne, Arthur, and Leo would be perfect for that mission.

They were the three most promising newcomers, and the most dangerous location would give them the necessary experience to advance in rank.

Upon arriving at Espoir, the trio's first order of business was to indulge in their favorite pastime: food.

Sofia perez had been sentenced to death with all her close family in a virtual execution with all the population watching. The government wanted to do show that her as an example of what would happen to people willing to betray their own race.

She was dead by horrible tortures being with lashes, burning a limb, tear out some teeth but also psychological by seeing her own family dying in front of her, before passing away alone in a cell with no power left to live.

Years of peace passed, but no one forgot that danger always loomed, and that war could break out at any moment. However, humanity refused to give up, and that was their unyielding mentality.

While the Faran Empire was at war with another civilization, Earthlings continued to develop and progress, eventually surpassing their rivals.