UPDATE: The author for the last part of SteemShort #6 has been chosen (2018-May-02)

There were 8 valid summaries submitted to the jury.

And the jury chose the summary submitted by @rasamuel.

Congratulations, @rasamuel.

Here is the summary:

Tortured, head bent and covered in blood, William Chang looked up and saw the faces of two of his most trusted soldiers. “We’re to help you, sir. We managed to escape.” General Chang was weak, dejected. “We can still take back control of the ship, sir! We must fight!” And in a second a mini-war began on William Chang’s ship, between the General’s men and Van Hal’s men. After hours and hours of fight, and launches of blasters and explosives, the ship’s engine gave up, sending them crashing from space, directly into no other place but Raoulin V-- Raoulin V, where a most astonishing revelation awaits them! The citizens of Raoulin V were against the war. Not only are only a handful of their selfish leaders the ones behind it, they are being backed also by Top Federation Officers who tend to benefit from war; they had planned to wipe them all out to cover their tracks. But now Chang had another decision to make--run off and take his crew into safety, or stand and fight against tyranny!

SteemShort #6 - Post 3: Request for the Last Part of the Story

SteemShort are short stories written collaboratively by three differents authors and illustrated by an artist/photographer.
The process to create a SteemShort is described in this post, slightly modified bin this post. The rules to select the authors and illustrators have been modified in this post.

The first two parts has been written by @gbengaremi (Gbenga Remi) and @jacksondavies (Jackson Davies). They can be found below.

This is the request for the last part of the sixth SteemShort.

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Authors that want to write this last part should send 0.001 STEEM or SBD to the @steemshorts account, with their proposed summary in a memo starting with the character '#'.

This summary must be between 100 to 200 words. Any proposed summary that is shorter than 100 words or longer than 200 words will not be considered.

It is important that the memo starts with the character '#': that makes this memo readable only by the author and the @steemshorts account.

Example of the beginning of a valid memo:

# It was a dark and stormy night ...

Note that it is recommended to send the 0.001 SBD/STEEM with the memo from steemit.com using a web browser, as we have seen several cases of "Invalid memo" when it was sent using an app such as eSteem.

There can be only one proposed summary per author. The proposed summaries must be received in less than 3 days after thist post.

After sending their summary, authors should tell in a comment that they have sent their summary, so that they can received confirmation that their summary is valid and they can be easily contacted if they are the chosen author.

After 3 days, all the valid summaries will be communicated anonymously to the 3 members of the SteemShorts jury, and they will decide which author will be chosen.

The chosen author will then be instructed how to submit their full constribution. The full contribution need to be between 500 and 1,500 words.
Once the full contribution of the chosen author will be received, another post with this full contribution will request proposals for an illustration for the story.

All authors need to agree for a "Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike" (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode).

No title for the short story should be suggested. When the full text of the full story will be known, the three different authors will propose a title.

Rewards for each part of the story are half of total SBD payout, minus the jury fee of 15 SBD.

So, writers, send your summary proposals with 0.001 STEEM or SBD to the @steemshorts account.

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Here is the first two parts of the story, written by @gbengaremi and @jacksondavies:

PARIS, EARTH, YEAR 3000

“I don’t want to do it.”

The little boy said, his concentration solely on the armoured shoes which he was in the process of lacing carefully. He had learned to be careful all the time. Be as meticulous as possible. As he stood there in the dimly-lit armoury with his little brother, his mind was not on the thing he was about to do. His mind had strayed, as it had the tendency to do, far away into the stars—where he felt he belonged. It was his destiny, but his brother had distracted him.

“Don’t hold back this time,” His brother had said, putting on his armour too. “If you have me, which I know you will just hit me, okay? Don’t hold back this time.”

“I won’t do it.”
William Chang said.
“I won’t.”

He finished lacing his shoes, adjusted his metal armour and stood up. Heading towards the door, he saw a figure standing menacingly by it. It was an imposing figure—which he was more than familiar with; it was literally a shadow that he knew he was doomed to spend his entire life living up to. It was the figure of his own father, Li Chang, or as he preferred to be called, Chang the Conqueror. Everyone on the planet knew his story. How he had gone from being a filthy peasant surviving in the slums of Paris, to single-handedly putting the entire planet on the map. How he had earned for Earth, the respect of the Intergalactic Federation of Worlds. He did all this with his intrepid adventures and brave conquests.

“So, you’ve decided to walk the path of a weakling.”
Li Chang said to his son.
“I have not.”
“That’s not what your trainer tells me.”
“I have not!” William retorted.
“I will be overseeing your training today. See you in the arena in five seconds.”

Old Chang disappeared from the shed, and William followed immediately behind, his little brother trailing behind him.
The arena was old-fashioned. It was built just at the center of the family vineyard. William had always wondered why, but he never bothered to ask. It’s not like it would matter, anyway.

The boys had their full armour on. Sammy, William’s little brother, who was three full years younger, stood a few feet away. He was facing his older brother as squarely as he could and even though beads of sweat had settled over his forehead, he still managed to hide his fears rather superbly. At their father’s order, they both put on their helmets and picked up their sword. It was a slow fight, with one-sided attacks from one brother and the other putting up an effortless but efficient defence.

“Get him, Sammy!” Old Chang shouted from his seat. “Time your attacks. Precise launches. Faster.”
It was ineffective. William was too good, too fast, too strong for his little brother.

“Is that what you’ll do all day, William?”
Old Chang shouted. “Don’t be weak, boy. Attack! Attack!”
But William did not.
“Drop your swords!”
The older Chang ordered from his seat. “I want you to fight hand to hand.”

The boys did as their father ordered. At that point, the battle became more of a pantomime than a battle. Sammy’s jabs were weak. He was tired and the armour weighed him down. Ashamed of, or for his little brother, William went in with an arm lock. In the space of a few microseconds, he had his brother pinned on the hot sands.

“Finish him!”
Li Chang shouted, excited.
“Hit him!”
But young William Chang could not.
“I said finish him!”
Old Li Chang shouted again. Still, Wiliam only hovered above his little brother, his hand fisted but suspended in the air. He couldn’t bring himself to bring it down.

“You’re weak, boy!”
Li Chang shouted from his seat.
”Weak!”

The next morning Li Chang was summoned by the Federation. Before he left, however, he entered into his older son’s room at dawn while he was still asleep. He sat beside his bed, stroking his hair like a loving father. Young William woke up to the startling sight. Before he could voice his amazement his father said:

“There are two kinds of people in the Universe, boy. The ones who do all it takes to win and the ones who lose and complain. I’m afraid you’re too weak, boy. You belong to the latter. You’ll amount to nothing! Nothing!”

When Old Chang left the room, William wished he’d never see his father again. Little did he know his wish would be granted. Old Chang died in battle the next day. The whole Universe mourned. William mourned too, but he knew his destiny had just begun and that was an endless thrill for him.

---

Raoulin V, Year 3045

William Chang’s ship hovered over Raoulin V with one mission—to destroy the whole planet. Only William knew the reason for that. His crew, even though kept in the dark, had enough trust in The Federation to know that for the order to have been given, it was an absolute necessity.

However, General Chang could not bring himself to push that button. He paced up and down the bridge, pensive and contemplative—even a bit sweaty. His crew thought he was weighing the decision but they were wrong. His mind had gone back 45 years ago to his encounter in the Vineyard.
45 years had passed and yet it felt like it was yesterday.

Yes, a whole lot had happened. He had dedicated his life to the Federation, even though everyone held him to the standards of his father, constantly comparing. Even though it had taken him only 25 years to become a General—unprecedented in Federation history, still he had yet to shake his father’s shadow. He had failed to achieve half the things his father had.

With the push of that button he could; finally, he could. His name--his name!--would go down in history as the man who finally put an end to the 100-years war with the Raols. But at what cost? Yes, the Federation had finally built the perfect machine to get the job done and had secretly installed it on his ship. Yes, most of the people down there on Raolin V would go on to become military thugs and probably kill people he knew, but was that enough?

“General Chang.” A female voice called on the bridge. “General, you have to decide now!”
“General, we have no choice.” Another voice, a male one, called again.
“Control gave the order, General. We can win this war. With a push of that button, we can win this war. You can win this war! For all of us.”

William Chang was not hearing the words of his crew. Fixated on a spot now, he was hovering. His mind hovering on that vineyard, hovering above his little brother and his father’s voice hovering in his ears. “You’re weak, boy! You’ll never amount to anything! Never!”

---

The silence is chilling on deck as one man stands alone. In his hands the power to destroy an entire species. The silence is broken by an order from General Chang.

"Disengage! Send the ship back to station 5."

This announcement is greeted with murmurs from the crew. A crew member voices opposition to Chang's decision.

"With all due respect sir, this is our chance to end this war once and for all. We've been doing this for over a century. How many more generations will have to experience this war?"

Chang replies while walking off to his quarters.

"This is an entire species we're talking about! That's not a decision one makes on a whim."

Words are traded between crew members. Some see reason with General Chang's decision, others do not.

---

General Chang's decision reaches the table of the military high command, and they are not pleased with the development. In an obscure corner of the ship, a crew member receives a call from a high ranking member of the Department Of Defense.

"I told them that he was the wrong candidate. He should never have been chosen for this mission."

"I've worked with the General on a couple occasions, he has a soft heart but he can do what has to be done when the need arises. Just give him some time."

"We don't have time! This war has to end now! I'm sorry, we have no choice but to activate the contingency plan."

The crew member pleads for more time.

"Activating the contingency plan complicates matters. I hear that the crew is fiercely loyal to the General."

"The crew isn't as monolithic as you think, we've inserted some elements into this mission and they are there to carry out your orders. The rest of the crew members will have no choice but to comply."

The crew member bows to the inevitable.

"Very well, I will carry out your wishes."

"That's the spirit General, I knew we could count on you."

General Chang took his time to decide his next course of action. In times like this, he loved to listen to classical music. There was something about it that calmed him down and helped him think with clarity.

He had barely been in his quarters for 30 minutes when he received a notification from the deck. Apparently, a matter on deck required his urgent attention.

General Chang sighs and makes his way outside. He opens his door and is greeted by some menacing men with guns pointed at him. Rough hands grab him and he is whisked to the bridge.

Upon arrival on deck, he beholds a scene of chaos. The contingency plan had been carried out. Chang was dethroned and his most loyal crew members had been subdued.

The mutineers were taking orders from the special crew member, who turned out to be none other than General Erik Van Hal. General Chang's second-in-command.

---

General Hal acquaints himself with the tools on deck. All codes for the ship have been handed over to him by Control. All except one, the code for triggering the secret weapon. General Chang had changed that before he left the deck, and right now only he knew the launch sequence.

Infuriated, General Hal barges into Chang's holding cell intent on acquiring the code.

"What's the code for the device?"

"I can't tell you that." General Chang replies.

General Hal stares at him in silence, hatred inscribed all over his face. The silence in the cell is broken by a clicking sound as General Hal pulls out a shiny metal object.

"Okay, let's start this over again. What's the code for the device?"

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