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Beautiful Weapon And The Dark War

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At What Cost?


It’s known as the Lightshade Fungus. The Lightshade is an extremely toxic bioluminescent mushroom. It is used as both energy source and weapon. The radioactive shrooms are easy to spot since they glow as bright as street lights during the night. The Lightshade is native to infested asteroid belts out in deep space. However- it’s true origin resides somewhere out in deep space. Lightshade colonies come in many colors but are generally green by nature unless tainted by another element or strain.

Like all fungi the mushrooms themselves are merely the tip of the iceberg as far as the Lightshade organism is concerned. The mycelium roots are the actually body of the Lightshade. And it is the mycelium roots that spread everywhere. They tunnel into everything and everyone they touch. Plants, rocks, or people- it doesn’t matter. The roots infect them all and suck out their life. The mycelium roots drain energy, minerals, and nutrients from both their hosts and their environment. All of the gathered resources are distributed by the glowing roots to feed the entire Lightshade colony. Once contaminated by the Lightshade it’s almost impossible to remove. Buildings, soil, and life forms are all affected and can be contaminated by the endlessly spreading fungus. Nothing tends to grow on contaminated land. Nothing pleasant anyway…

When a Lightshade colony matures, it puts out shrooms that act as both reproductive organs and food storage. All surplus energy, minerals, and nutrients are stored in the mushrooms until needed. When full maturity is obtained the shroom splits open to put out millions of lighter than air spore pods. These floating spore pods hold millions of tiny individual spores. Each spore can start a new colony of its own. As the pollen like pods become airborne they fan out into the winds until they land in some far away place. Once they land the pods walls weaken then burst open spraying the nearby area with spores. And the life cycle can begin a new. By doing this the Lightshade spreads from region to region. Since this fungus can grow in the vacuum of space, a lucky chunk of spores just needs to be blasted into space for it to potentially infect a new planet someday.

Lightshade spore pods and spore vapor are a menace. The roots are worse than rust in machinery and the tiny spores are a lethal if inhaled. Once inside the lungs the spores quickly grow causing respiratory failure. Once more the charge carried by the shrooms causes mushroom patches to be radioactive. The pulp inside the shroom is also extremely toxic.

But why would such a frighteningly destructive substance be so valuable? Or so farmed by so many races? The reason can be found in the pulp of the mushrooms. When liquefied and condensed- liquid Lightshade is an extremely potent fuel. It can be used to power just about anything. It’s so plentiful and easy to grow that it can be farmed anywhere with no effort. It just needs to be contained for the most part. A small Liquid Lightshade reactor can produce roughly the same energy as an Atomic reactor at a fraction of the cost. And a little bit goes a long way. It can even be refined into a dirt cheap fuel for vehicles. Basically it’s a limitless source of rich energy. In all - Liquid Lightshade is a highly destructive but exceptionally addictive resource. Entire nations gone extinct after annihilating their planets environment and fatally poisoning their entire populations. This has caused considerable backlash against the fungus and its use in the past. Thankfully the big Lightshade corporations have a vast army of lawyers, lying politicians, fake scientists, and ignorant masses of people called “energy voters” whom religiously support the Lightshade industry. –Even if it kills them…

The Fascist Empire of America is particularly fond of their so called “Clean Lightshade” industry. Too bad there is nothing “clean” about it… American Corporations target poor and rural areas for Lightshade farming and refinement. The toxicity also has the added benefit of controlling the populations of unwanted minorities and poor people. Since the people are too ignorant to understand what is happening to them; they can easily be lied to using media propaganda and advertisements. They never figure out what’s killing them in time. And even if they did- they’d have to prove it… And that would be a legal task and a half since both the legal system and government all take bribes from the big corporations.

To make matters worse there is another huge reason for farming Lightshade. The ridiculously toxic liquid makes a superb weapon. When enriched it becomes horrifically corrosive! A single pistol armed with Lightshade filled slides can devastate an entire platoon of armored troops. A rifle filled with Lightshade slugs can turn a tank into Swiss cheese. A liquid Lightshade sprayer can melt an entire fortress into sludge within minutes. A Lightshade bomb can reduce an entire metropolis to radioactive dust. Because of all this many militaries are utterly hooked on Lightshade weapons despite the resulting contamination. Many treaties have banned the use of Lightshade as a weapon in the past. – None of them are ever obeyed for long… They may as well have been written on a napkin. Curiously enough not all interstellar races are affected in the same way by Lightshade exposure. Some –like the Roca are completely immune. But others… Like the Torvo are even more susceptible to Lightshade than humans. And it was for this reason that mankind in is desperation launched one of the most costly military and ecological catastrophes in history.

During the worst part of the Torvo War, the humans were massacred on many worlds. They had been pushed back to Arcadia and their capitol worlds. No race was spared the wrath of the Torvotyrannus. Even the mighty Solack Empire was crumbling. The entire galaxy seemed ripe to fall. But just as all hope seemed lost a discovery was made. The Torvo were not attacking all sectors equally. They were partially avoiding any worlds that had even modest amounts of Lightshade despots. Even strategically critical worlds were being passed up. It didn’t take long for the Humans to figure this puzzle out. Unfortunately the plan the Humans came up with was almost as bad as the Torvo invasion itself!

In short the Americans planned to spike every strategically important world with Lightshade. This would lightly infect every planet they did this too including the human homeworld of Arcadia- But… It would make their worlds and the surrounding space toxic to the Torvo and their ships. By infecting their own worlds they could set up an impassable wall against the Torvo and their genocide. With matters as desperate as they were- it was not a hard choice.

And so the Spore contingency was soon initiated. The humans filled millions of high altitude bombers on many worlds with Lightshade spore canisters. And thus began to seed their many worlds with the vicious poison. It didn’t take long for the Lightshade to take root. The only problem was the amount needed to infect a planet was drastically overestimated. The Lightshade blooms quickly began to grow out of control. This super saturation of the toxic fungus caused mass plant and animal die offs. The resulting pollution fed by Lightshade gases caused a thick high altitude cloud layer to form above many planets. This had the effect of blotting out the sun, causing and eerie endless night to engulf many worlds. Many more plants and animals went extinct from the loss of their planets sun light. This was an unimaginable catastrophe! But it worked…

The Torvo were broken- they just didn’t know it yet. But the Torvo quickly realized what had taken place. They just didn’t believe the Humans and their allies could be that stupid. That insane. The Torvo were in shock at the outrageously suicidal thing that the Humans had done. They really didn’t see it coming. And now the Torvo had no way to advance. They couldn’t orbit enemy planets to invade or even get near entire star systems without being pelted by either Lightshade weapons or debris. It was over… The war had nowhere to go but downhill from there. Soon after the spore operation; the Torvo were soundly defeated. In one last push to maintain their presence – the Torvo’s legendarily leader Amadeus fell to a lowly Solack Mercenary named Tromili. The loss sealed their fate. It hurt the Torvo in a way no weapon ever could. It killed their souls an shattered their sprites. Eventually the Solack hunted the broken remnants of the Torvo race to extinction. The Americans and their allies stood victorious at last! But at what Cost? They also now had extreme amounts of energy- But at what Cost?

Despite the losses and the horrible endless night; joy rang out across the galaxy. It’s many warring races now stood united as one. Together they formed a force so powerful that nothing in the universe could ever tear it apart… Nothing that is, except itself… But for the moment life seemed good. The many leaders of the various great races met with the American and Solack emperors on Arcadia for a massive celebration. And although the skies were dark on many worlds, the future never looked brighter. For the first time in an age Humans, Solack, Furries, Machines, and even the Xyphrin were working side by side to rebuild. Working as bother nations the many races of the galactic alliance began to produce cures for Lightshade contamination sickness. Vast amounts of food and clean water began pouring into the devastated worlds. Life was beginning to take root once more. Artificial light sources were beginning to spring up along with new plant life.

Still- Lightshade was everywhere. It was so plentiful many once poor nations became extraordinarily wealthy. Too wealthy… And now too well armed… Because of this many rouge factions rose to power. It was not long before savage wars began to break out between various rebel factions and the major powers. The Americans soon found themselves in what became known as the “Dark War.” A galactic free-for-all fought in eternal darkness. It wasn’t long before all the internal chaos caused the great alliance to split. New ways of processing Lightshade ore began to surface. Soon ultra condensed dried pulp was being milled into super hard armor. This new cheap and plentiful super armor could soon be seen in everything. It made war cheaper and easier than ever. Even the once useless Lightshade roots became harvestable. They were turned into devastatingly toxic and frighteningly corrosive gas bombs. Missiles carrying root gas payloads could dissolve entire bases in mere minutes. But all the pollution and destruction was taking its toll on the once healing galaxy. The Dark Wars were quickly leading to the annihilation of the human race. Mass destruction was now too easy to achieve. Entire populations could now be decimated overnight. Worse still, no one would agree to cease fire or stop using Lightshade weaponry. All seemed lost once more. But salvation was just around the corner.

After a several years of rampant over harvesting, much of the Lightshade was becoming depleted. Even the gas high above was being sucked up at a phenomenal rate to feed the voracious human war machines. In short- man kind had inadvertently begun the reclamation of their own worlds. Before long the additive Lightshade was gone from many worlds where it had been seeded. The wars were soon starved of their fuel as the skies started to clear up again. With no more cheap easy material, all the combat began to grind to a halt. After what seemed like a lifetime- rays of sunlight began to break through the clouds in what seem to many as an act of god. The Lightshade was dying. Too many various life forms had adapted to it and were even starting to feed on it at the microscopic level. As time went on life began to heal itself and become immune to the once foreign substance. The wars gone- mankind began to rebuild. In time the various worlds that had been contaminated began to come back to life. Animals and plants that had gone extinct were brought in from other untouched worlds to repopulate the reclaimed ones. And for awhile life seemed good once more. Even some of the old alliances were rekindled as tensions began to fall. This was not victory… But it was peace…

True enough Lightshade was still around on many worlds. Even it’s distant presence on far away worlds remained a temptation and a hazard. And many of the deep emotional scars of the Dark Wars would never really heal. But- if by the grace of god, greed, or simply nature; life once again flourished throughout the galaxy. And all was well if only for a little while.

One little mushroom… Both savior and doom bringer… And it’s still out there- somewhere- whispering a sweet song like a sirens call from the past. Luring you to your doom. -Beckoning you to take the easy way out. Temptation- a very costly sin. This beautiful weapon is a reminder of that. It is the drug of humanity- it is addiction in and of itself. It’s only strength is your weakness. It’s only weakness is your strength.





Lightshade Fungi and story © Me.
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Such a dark story! It has a powerful vibe that brings such sorrow and dread to the reader. Well done!