This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Rebelliousdefender on 2024-12-24 10:19:03+00:00.

Eight bottles of beer, three glasses of wine, half a bottle of Blerk and a pint of the most exquisite Rilzak the Galaxy had to offer. A personal record. Denrad Hazdar felt great. He was also barely conscious. It didn’t matter. Right now he had the rush of his life and he wouldn’t have to deal with the consequences tomorrow. For he was about to die. Everything was about to die.

The last human in existence, sighted. What a life. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about turning 150 years old – hurray! His mood was great. Then came the memories. Oh god the memories…

He had been 14 when he first heard of the Xartul. Some news outlet mentioned that the fringes of the Galaxy had been attacked by an unknown faction that had devastated a dozen worlds of the Orbin Hegemony. This was nothing extraordinary. The Galaxy was teeming with life. A thousand factions were competing for dominance. Every year some new and previously unknown species emerged from some obscure Solar System and tried to secure its place in the Galactic Pecking Order.

Humans, by luck, accident or destiny, had managed to climb the ladder rather quickly. Within a few Millennia after discovering the secrets of FTL travel, they had risen to be among the greatest powers in the Galaxy. By the time of Denrads birth, perhaps only the Lankoi could call themselves equals of humanity. Young Denrad had other worries, though. School, games, girls, puberty, life.

The next time he recalled hearing about these Aliens was at age 18 when he entered University. By this time, the Galaxy had given them the name „Xartul“. An ancient Lankoi word for “scourge”. During the previous four years, the Xartul had completely annihilated the Orbin Coalition, and started attacking the surrounding powers.

While this achievement was noteworthy, (before their fall the Orbin had been estimated to be the 17th most powerful faction in the Galaxy) it was far from unique. Throughout the Millennia emerging new powers had managed to defeat old established ones dozens of times.

Denrad, busy with relocating to the University of Antares and eager to start his education in Sunology, quickly forgot about the news, as did the rest of the Galaxy.

When he graduated with his Doctorate at age 28, the situation had changed. In the decade it had taken Denrad to complete his education, the Xartul had annihilated a dozen competing factions and had taken control of a full 20% oft he Galaxy. The speed of expansion and conquest was alarming. The brutality unprecedented. For the Xartul did not conquer to gain subjects, but resources. The native population was seen as nothing more than useless resource consumers and thus expendable.

Planets, Moons and Asteroids with a population numbering in the Millions or Billions were cleansed from their original inhabitants, and then colonized with a few hundred thousand Xartul. This way, most of the Planet could be strip mined for resources without any concerns, fueling the Xartul war machine.

No one knew what caused this genocidal conquest, this devastating expansion. And no one ever found out. It wasn’t even clear if the Xartul came from the same Galaxy or if they were an extragalactic invader. All forms of contact were rejected, all captured Xartul killed themselves in captivity.

It didn’t really matter. They had become a threat to everyone, and the Galaxy reacted accordingly.

The Humans, the Lankoi and dozens of other galactic powers entered a coalition to defeat the Xartul invaders. A war economy was declared, everything centered around the war effort.

As Quadrillions of others, Denrad was drafted into the armed forces. He ended up in the science division, trying to find new ways and weapons of destruction to stop the scourge that was about to consume the Galaxy.

By the time he turned 40, it was clear that the Galaxy was losing. Badly. Humanity had lost 1/3 of their territory to the invaders, the Lankoi half. Over 1/3 of the Galaxy had been cleansed of non-Xartul life.

It was during this dark hour, that Denrad submitted a daring plan to the Galactic Community. The Strategos Council were impressed with its boldness and gave it the highest priority. It seems to be the best, and only, possible way to stop and prevail over the Xartul.

For the next century, Denrad was almost exclusively preoccupied with Project „Sun Spear“. As a Sunologist, an expert in the inner workings of Suns, he was attempting to weaponize the stars themselves.

Unfortunately, a project of such magnitude required large amounts of resources, time and manpower. As the flickers of civilization across the Galaxy were extinguished one by one, Denrad and Millions of other creatures worked feverishly on a plan to save the Galaxy. Eventually, they realized that they would not be finished in time to save it.But they might save other Galaxies.

When Denrad entered seniorhood a age 140, he witnessed Humanities last stand. Boxed in from all sides, the last Star System under Human control was attacked by the Xartul. The last 20 Billion humans, the last 12 000 War ships. It had been a spectacle worthy of Legends.

As the Chief Scientist of project „Sun Spear“ Denrad was ordered to escape in the fastest ship ever created. The last humans did everything to buy him much needed time.

He recalled the pictures, the transmissions, the flashes and explosions. He recalled the orbital bombardment of humanities last Planet. He recalled the silence.

Tears were streaming down Denrads cheeks. He was sobbing uncontrollably. He was screaming. He was crying, he was howling like an animal.

He took another sip of Rilzak. His good mood was gone. He only felt hate, and sorrow and regret. Why hadn’t he spent more time with father? Why haven’t he helped mother in the garden between school years when he had the time? Why hadn’t he exercised more.? Why hadn’t he started a family? Why hadn’t he married Ate?

His chest hurt, his heart hurt. All he felt was regret, for missed opportunities. Regret for all the pain and suffering caused by the Xartul. Over 90% of the Galaxy had been cleansed of non-Xartul life. The last pockets of resistance were expected to fall within months. With 99.99% probability, he was the last living human in existence.

Still sobbing and crying, Denrad turned to the control panels. His escape had been necessary in order to complete project „Sun Spear“. In the past few weeks, he had finished the last calculations. It was time.

He activated the frequency that was his lives work. Coincidentally, the old Terran calendar showed the date of 24th December 12024. An ancient popular Terran holiday, that had endured throughout the Millennia.

Denrads last words were: „Happy Christmas, Motherfuckers“.

„Sun Spear“ was an attempt to turn stars into a Supernova. At the beginning of the project it was hoped to blow up isolated stars to stop the Xartul advance, but since the project took so long to complete, it had been modified into a Doomsday Weapon. „Lets go out with a bang ey?“ one of Denrads fellow scientists had remarked once.

The frequency emitted from Denrads ship travelled at FTL speeds. Billions of small drones and hidden relay stations increased the signals’ intensity. Within hours, it had travelled across the entire Galaxy.

The Signal disrupted the delicate workings of hundreds of Billions of stars, and caused a cascade effect that lead to their collapse. Hundreds of Billions of stars across the Galaxy turned Supernova.

Within hours, the entire Galaxy lit up. The radiation of these explosions would ensure the complete cleansing of all life, even if a few Million stars did not blow up.

Millions of years later, neighboring Galaxies would be hit by the light of these explosions, resembling a giant colorful jingle bell among the stars….