The Coliseum
A sonic boom roars through the valley as a legion scout ship breaks through the atmosphere of the planet of Vishnu which had been terraformed by the satellite Tawaret. As the name Tawaret implies, it made the planet fertile so man can establish yet another colony for the Second Roman Empire. The ship is put into a maneuver that would allow the pilot to land, and it slowly floats to the ground, like a leaf falling from a tree. The scout ship hits the ground with a soft thud; an inaudible hiss escapes the ship as the hydraulics of the door open and a ramp slides out of the hull. Fifteen soldiers file out of the ship and get into ranks. A solider with a bright red plume on his helmet steps in front of other soldiers. He yells to his soldiers, “Listen here, maggots. At 009 hundred a spy informed HQ that that a meeting is going to be held in a town 57 kilometers south of our current location. The plan is to enter the town and strike with force and speed. We will then continue to extract the so-called ‘leader,’ subdue him and take him to justice.”
The rest of the squad quickly replies, “SIR, YES SIR”. They promptly give the commander a salute. They then begin to prepare for the mission. The cabin boy rolls out a large trolley that contains the equipment they would be using. He then hands out equipment to the soldiers, one set of tier-three body armor, an electric-barrier riot shield set on stun function, a passer rifle also set on stun, tear gas canisters, and adhesive submission devices. The pilot then emerges from the hull of the ship driving a small, open air hover ship, built for speed and stealth. Ten soldiers, eleven if you count the pilot, climb onto the boat, the other five stay back at the legion scout ship in case a quick escape is needed.
The hover boat is now about half a kilometer from the assembly. The soldiers watch as the speaker yells at the audience in a language much different from their own because of the long isolation from the rest of the universe. The solider presses a button that turns on the translation software built into the helmet that is standard issue with the body armor.
Speakers on the armor listened to the Leader, and in the slow monotone voice of a robot, the speech of the Leader is slowly repeated. “-ow is the time for our oppression to end. Do we want out children and our children’s children to live under the unjust boot to a tyrant?! No we must stand up and strike!”
The collected cheers of the mob confuse the software and static blares through the speakers. The commander uses his override and turns of the speech, it is now replaced by his instructions. “Smith fire the tear gas canisters in to the rear of the crowd, Johnson you fire two warning shots.”

The mob screams in surprise, some fall to the ground seized with asthma attacks due to long days in the salt mines. Others fight through the pain and take arms against their attackers, pitchforks, pickaxes, and a few have crudely made bows or spears since actual weapons have long since been prohibited in the outer planets. With a roar they charge at the heavily armed soldiers, the first rioter reaches the hastily formed shield wall, and the solider in the front lifts his shield, and slams it into the attacker. The enraged man bounces of the shield, a loud arc of electricity follows him as he collapses onto the ground in an unconscious heap. The rest of the mob sees their fallen comrade and stops dead in their tracks. The commander simply says “Disband now and you shall go unpunished”.
The Leader yells “We will never disband! You can’t take our rights!” Before he can finish his thought his comrades flee the field, leaving him alone. The Leader is about to open his mouth again when the commander quickly shoots him with the passer, the Leader collapses to the ground. Another solider runs up and hand cuffs the man. He then places an adhesive sticker to his forehead that would feed their prisoner a steady flow of sedatives which would force him to remain docile for the return trip to New Rome.
The Leader wakes up in a dark room he looks to his right, where a shaggy man sits. He is shirtless on the floor just staring at the wall, on his chest is branded SPQR and the word Traitor. A large section of the wall in front of him slides upward. The Traitor doesn’t look up he just says “you better go they don’t like it when you’re late.”
The Leader slowly gets up and walks up to the door he sees only darkness inside he cautiously walks in. The door slams behind him and slowly a new door opens in front of him. He walks in and the cheers of thousands of people rumble throughout the Coliseum. An announcer yells over the mike “Welcome, for those who just tuned in Alexander the Merciless defeated Chuck the Quick in an upset! Up next is a new comer, as a penalty for an unapproved public gathering he will fight for a public trial!” A sword is pushed into the hands of the Leader, he pushes a small grey button built into the handle and the edges glow white hot.
A platform raises form the ground and a man in a large mech suit is presented to the audience. Cheers erupt louder than before. The mech suit towers at 15 meters, on the left arm a large circular-saw is in the place where the hand should be. Hanging loosely from the edges are large hydraulic hoses that power the pistons that would allow the giant machine to move. The man, who was once the leader of the rebellion, takes a hesitant step back and bumps into the already redecended door. The announcer yells “fight or die”. The man takes a slow breath in and steels his nerves; he repositions the sword and bellows a primal roar. He then immediately charges, the mech suit moves into a defensive position and starts to swing the massive saw-arm in the hope of finishing the battle early. The Leader rolls under the sweeping arm of the circular saw. He doesn’t miss it completely; a long thin gash opens diagonally across his back. He recovers and leaps onto the back of the mech suit. He shimmies upward until he is clinging onto the back of the mech, he slices the hydraulic hoses that power the left arm and the circular saw is disabled. He then continues to climb onto the shoulders of the mech. The Leader then holds the sword over his head and slams into downward into the glass barrier that protects the pilot of the mech suit. He looks at the shocked face of the mech suit’s pilot and now realizes that it is the shaggy man who was labeled Traitor. The pilot recovers and grabs the Leader he flings him across the arena; he flips through the air and lands right next to a stand with a button built onto the top. He slams his hand on the button not sure what it does just hoping that it helps him.
On the other side of the arena, a large panel of the wall slides upward and a terrifying screech is heard. A huge behemoth lumbers out of the cell. The creature is covered in thick scales, and stands the same height as the mech suit. The creature may have a chance of defeating the mech. The behemoth’s fingers end with large sharp talons; four long tusks extend out of the mouth of the beast. A large collar beeps, and then it shocks the creature, whipping it into a fit of rage. The creature has one reaming eye; the other had long ago been mutilated in a different battle. The behemoth sniffs the air and looks over directly at the mech suit, it charges at mech. The mech retaliates but punching it directly in the throat. The creature and mech grapple until the monster finally gets the upper hand and rips the arm completely off, and throws it onto the ground. It then punches through the glass about to devour the pilot; suddenly the collar beeps again, the monster stops still holding onto the man. The collar zaps the monster, and it quickly drops the man onto the ground and returns to its cell. The pilot looks up and sees the sword, hope returns to his eyes. He grabs the sword and shuffles over to the man who has collapsed to the ground, the man sees him coming and slowly gets to his feet, and he gets on his knees and starts to stand up. The Traitor kicks him in the back of the knee, and the Leader collapses back onto his knees. He then grabs the Leader and pulls his head upward by his hair. He looks to the emperor of New Rome, the emperor pauses for a brief moment and then simply points his thumb downward. The Traitor pulls the Leader’s head closer and whispers into his ear “Die nameless”.
The Leader responds simply “NO”; he whips his leg backward and knocks the Traitor onto the ground. He places his foot in the middle of the Traitors back, pinning him to the ground, he reaches down and picks up the sword. He places the sword at the base of the Traitor’s neck, the Leader looks to the Emperor for the command; again the emperor points his thumb downward. Silence falls over the crowd and then applause erupts throughout the Coliseum as a new champion is crowned.