Captain Parsons stood on the bridge of the starship Emperor’s Pride, flagship of the Imperial Fleet, watching the 3D holographic display of the battle currently happening in space around them, and wondered if this damn war would ever end.

Of course, he knew that it wouldn’t. After all, it had been raging for as long as anyone could remember. Although, to be fair, given the regularity with which they all seemed to have their memories messed with, there was no way of telling how long that was…

“Captain, a group of enemy ships has broken through our line and are approaching, firing standard brainwashing blasters. Shields are holding.”

Drawn away from his thoughts by the report of the koala officer at the helm, the captain gazed at the display, formulating a response.

“Return fire!” The panda captain commanded. “Sweep them with hypno-rays at full power and target their shield generators with magnetic beams.”

“Aye Sir!” Came the response from the big grizzly manning the weapons station, his paws flying over the controls.

“Contact starships Enthraller and Dominator!” Parsons added. “Have them come about and target them as well.”

“Aye Sir!” At the communications station, the fox officer on duty got to work carrying out his commands.

The captain watched the display as the two great starships turned and began firing on the smaller and less powerful ships, their weapons fire joining that of his own ship.

It seemed to do the trick. He saw the display show the enemy ships’ shields collapsing under the onslaught.

“Enemy ships have lost shields!” The office at the helm confirmed.

“Full sweep with hypno-beams complete…” The weapons station reported.

“They are signalling their new loyalty to the Empire.” The comms officer said. “They are awaiting commands, sir.”

“Tell them to get their shields back online and then join the rest of the fleet in the assault on the enemy forces.” The captain ordered. “Send them the Imperial brainwashing files so they can update their weapons. And signal Enthraller and Dominator return to the line.”

“Aye, sir!”

“What’s the tally for the battle so far?”

“Twenty-one enemy ships now fallen under Imperial control.” The helm officer reported. “None of ours have fallen to them. Seventeen enemy ships remain.” There was a bleep, and the koala checked his readouts. “Update, sir, another two enemy vessels now under control, twenty-three in total. Fifteen enemies remain.”

The captain nodded, eyes on the holo-display once again. The battle wouldn’t take too much longer. Then it would just be a quick sweep of the enemy base on the planet below with their hypno-beams and the star system would belong to the empire.

The Commonwealth forces had been outnumbered and outgunned, so it wasn’t a surprise, but you could never be too careful. A few lucky shots on the right ship and a whole battle could turn. It had happened often enough. He supposed that was one of the dangers with a war fought with mind control weapons. There was always a possibility that the wrong ship could suddenly switch sides and set off a domino effect of your fellow ships suddenly becoming loyal to the enemy…

Of course, the mind control weapons were the reason Captain Parsons suspected the war would never end. No enemies were ever killed. They were simply hypnotized, brainwashed and reprogrammed to serve another faction, their previous memories erased or suppressed, or made to seem unimportant. Hell, the panda knew it was likely he himself, and every member of his crew, had served and fought for other factions in the past before being brainwashed into serving the Empire. Although, there was no way of knowing for certain.

No one seemed to know how the war had started either. At least, no one he had ever met. He supposed the rulers of the various factions might know, but they weren’t sharing if they did. They were too interested in fighting for control of one another’s forces and territory.

Aside from the Empire he loyally served, ruled by his Magnificence, the Grand Emperor Victus (His brainwashed mind automatically added ‘Glory to his name and praise be for his control!’ after thinking the name), Parsons knew of several other factions in the war.

There was the Commonwealth, ruled by a council of supposedly equal Lords. The Collective, possibly ruled by a sentient artificial intelligence, who brainwashed their subjects to be mindlessly obedient drones, assigned numbers rather than names. There were the Utopians, brainwashed by their leader, some mysterious figure known as the Guru, to be blissfully happy at all times.

And then there was the Thurman Dominion, whose leader, Overlord Thurman, had some ludicrous claim about being part of a bloodline dating back to Old Earth, and that his ancestor had created the mind control technologies that formed the basis of all the weapons being used in the war.

But of course, no side never seemed to get close to fully subduing the others. Each had periods where they looked to be doing well, but always seemed to end with another faction winning a few lucky battles against them and taking away a large chunk of their forces.

Right now, the Empire seemed to be in ascendancy, having won several major battles and skirmishes in recent months. From the look of the display in front of Captain Parsons, showing the increasing number of Commonwealth ships being brainwashed to serve the Empire, it looked like this current battle would be another one…

An urgent bleeping interrupted the panda’s thoughts. He looked up to see the koala officer checking his instruments.

“Captain!” He reported. “A large number of ships are emerging from hyperspace! Their transponders identify them as battleships of the Thurman Dominion!”

“How many?” Parsons said.

“Sixty-five, sir! And they’ve moving to attack, charging weapons!”

“Emergency power to reinforce shields!” The captain ordered. “Helm, commence evasive manoeuvres!” He gave the commands knowing they were likely useless. They were now they ones outnumbered and outgunned and it was just a matter of time until…

“Electromagnetic blasts have hit shield generators!” The weapons officer cried out. “Shields are down! Incoming…”

He was cut off as a wave of force washed across the bridge. Captain Parsons collapsed to his knees as he was overcome with an odd, pleasurable sensation that flooded his body. He shuddered and spasmed as the sensation increased, overwhelming all thought. Through the haze of bliss, he was vaguely aware that his mind was being rewritten, new desires, knowledge and thoughts being forcefully inserted into his brain. But he was too wrapped up in the pleasure to care.

And then it was suddenly over. Parsons quickly got to his feet. Around him, the rest of the bridge crew were also picking themselves up off the floor.

The panda captain felt different now. He found he now knew his true purpose, to serve the one rightful ruler of the galaxy. “All hail Overlord Thurman!” He declared, the words coming out automatically, thanks to his new brainwashed programming.

“All hail Overlord Thurman!” The rest of the officers on the bridge responded in unison.

“Signal our loyalty to the Dominion fleet flagship.” Parsons ordered. “Tell engineering I want shields restored as soon as possible and prepare to update the programming on all mind control weapons.”

Captain Parsons turned to look at the holographic display again, seeing it with a new perspective. The war might never end, but this day, this battle, would be won by the forces of Thurman, and he would now do all in his power to help make that happen, in the name of his new lord and Master…