Friday Flash Fiction - The Nation of Luna

It cost the corporation billions to officially move their headquarters to the moon. At first they tried to do so figuratively, simply declaring their headquarters to be located on Earth's orbiting satellite, then the UN laws changed, so they physically moved a computer server there to maintain "active business assets" at their headquarters. Then the UN decided the only way to stop this nonsense was to require "regular human presence", by which time the corporation had already begun work on their 200-person spaceship. Before the UN could object, an active, permanent office had been established on the moon as corporate headquarters, and it was still costing less than the taxes it helped them to dodge. That's not to mention all the cash they saved by being able to ignore things like import laws and being paid to host other companies' web servers outside UN jurisdiction.

When Earthside governments heard about the nuclear missiles and petawatt lasers powered by hyperspatial fusion generators trained on capital cities worldwide, the Nation of Luna had already fortified to become impregnable. All operations were now moon-based and self-sustaining. There was nothing we could do but watch.

Nobody knows exactly where on Earth that first shot came from. The missile flew a crazy trajectory low under radar before turning skyward from the Pacific Ocean and headed right for the Nation of Luna's central dome fortress. Many suspected one of the the middling dictatorships, bent on similar domination. Luna destroyed it halfway between Earth and the moon with their deadly lasers, then retaliated by turning five megacities to nuclear glass. They could have used the lasers for that too, but the CEO's paranoid video rant made their reasons clear: the nuclear sites would serve as a warning not just to this generation, but for generations to come. Nobody can stand against the might of Luna.

So now we live under the oppressive dictatorship of a light in the night sky. Most of the time, it's not too bad. They use their near-infinite power generation to feed, clothe and shelter us, but for a price. Few people can afford a lifetime of the bills and become employees themselves, just for the discounts. Before too long, we'll all be employed by Luna, and probably at that point we will take to the stars, just to see if there are any more "customers" out there to conquer.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - A lot of my stories seem to turn out bleak.
PPS - Hopefully that's not permanent.