Interstellar Age

While Erich was dealing with the aftermath of Erika's interview, and the heat that he would receive as a result of it, there were far more important events occurring across the galaxy. Though the propaganda machine of The Germanic Star-Empire tried to downplay the fact that a Naraku Hive Fleet was rapidly approaching their territory, the Supreme Leader was far from calm about this occurrence.

And he was not alone in this regard. On the home world of the Alfheim Dominion, within the tallest spire of its largest city, sat the Empress of the Light Elves, who had a completely stoic expression on her otherwise beautiful face.

Though this otherworldly beauty appeared as if nothing in this universe could possibly cause a moment of genuine emotion to appear on her icy face, her heart was beating quite rapidly. While her youngest daughter reported information about one of their more powerful vassal states being annihilated by the Naraku Hive Fleet.

"It would appear that the Rylonian Imperium has been completely annihilated, their fleets have been reduced to debris scattered about their stars, while their worlds have been scoured of all life from the relentless onslaught of the devouring swarm. What remains of their race have fled their borders, and are seeking asylum in the nearest civilizations.

Mother, the loss of a Tier III Sub-Galactic power is a tragedy which affects our entire standing on the galactic stage. If the other powers were to learn of this, they would begin pressing us on our borders. While the Fifth Fleet is currently being dispatched to deal with the bugs, I fear the damage has already been done."

Despite the grim news, Empress Lunaria Asterion did not react in the slightest. Instead, she posed a question which baffled her youngest daughter, in a voice that was both soft and angelic while still retaining the dignity and authority of a Galactic Empress.

"Celestia, if my calculations are correct, then it will only be a few years before the Naraku Hive Fleet, which the admiralty has designated by the name "Terminus", arrives at the borders of the Germanic Star-Empire, is that correct?"

Celestia, like her mother, was perhaps one of the most, if not the most beautiful woman in the galaxy. At least by humanoid standards. Like all light elves, her skin was so pale that it was nearly glowing, while her ears were long and pointy, like the rest of her race.

The woman's eyes were as gold as the sun, which the earth revolved around, while her hair was as white as snow. Her body, while somewhat tall by the standards of baseline humans, was slender but soft in all the right places. Like the rest of her species, her breasts were rather small, but that did not prevent her from having a perfect hourglass figure.

Despite having a face that appeared to have been crafted by a cosmic entity who was hellbent on creating the perfect woman, Celestia was currently scowling, and yet it did not taint her features. Why was she scowling? Because even at a moment as dire as this, her mother was still obsessed with the Germanic Star-Empire.

Which was a miniscule interstellar civilization on the fringes of their territory. Believing perhaps her mother had not understood the urgency of which she reported, Celestia began to raise her voice to her esteemed mother, who was one of the most powerful beings in the entire galaxy.

"Mother, did you not hear me? The Rylonians have virtually gone extinct. There is a rampaging hive fleet in our territory, and our vassals have begun to doubt our ability to protect them. If that were not bad enough, our rivals on the galactic stage will soon take advantage of this chaos to press our borders! What does a tier I regional power like the Germanic Star-Empire have to do with any of this?"

For the first time in over a thousand years, Celestia had witnessed a hint of emotion appear on her mother's stoic face. The celestial beauty's brows furrowed ever so slightly as her voice raised in agitation.

"Celestia Asterion! You dare to raise your voice to your mother and Empress! If you were not my daughter, I would have your atoms scattered for speaking to me in such a way!"

Immediately, Celestia felt shivers go down her spine. She had never seen her mother so outraged, and the fact that it was because she questioned the woman's clear obsession with a minor race only further added salt to injury. Just when Celestia was about to speak up again, her mother switched the subject.

"The Centennial War Games will be upon us in only five years. The last time they occurred a hundred years ago, the Germanic Star-Empire surprised us all. A civilization that did not even meet all the minimum requirements to be considered a minor power had so thoroughly trounced many of the more exceptional regional powers in our quadrant, and they have only become more powerful since then.

It is a pity that they do not yet have the resources to deal with a Naraku Hive Fleet by themselves, because I dare say that I am tempted to send my favorite attack hound to deal with these pesky bugs. Although, if our fifth fleet fails to defeat the Hive Fleet Terminus, then ultimately the GSE will be forced to fight them, anyway. I wonder how they will surprise me then..."

Celestia could see a look of excitement flicker in her mother's eyes as she spoke about the recent upstart that had clearly stolen her attention for these past few centuries. For a race that was biologically immortal like the Light Elves, a few hundred years were comparable to a few days. For the life of her, Celestia could not understand her mother's borderline infatuation with such a young race, who had only recently entered the interstellar age, and thus she was forced to ask.

"Mother, I just don't understand what your obsession with the Germanic People is. Sure, they have developed quite rapidly, but there are other civilizations in our quadrant that develop at an even greater speed. So why do you favor them so much? Is it because of their looks? I will admit that they are attractive, perhaps more so than most, but we have other races as our vassals who are superior in that regard as well. Please, mother, explain to me what compels you to look at them with such excited eyes!"

Lunaria looked at her daughter with a look of pity, as if she were gazing upon a young child who knew nothing of the greater universe. She sighed heavily, while internally debating whether or not she should tell her daughter the whole truth, or just part of it. After several moments of internal discord, the Empress of the Light Elves finally spoke about some of the thoughts that were flooding her ancient mind.

"Celestia, you know how old I am... For as long as I have lived and watched over our family's Empire, I have never encountered anything remotely similar to the Germanic People. If logic applied to their species, then they should have been extinct the moment they fired upon the Veltarians nearly four hundred years ago.

And yet, despite only recently settling their new home world, and having technology far below that of a Tier I minor power, the Germanic Star-Empire defeated a Tier III Minor Power, in the conflict they refer to as "The First Contact War." They did not do this by virtue of their military strength, but because of their tenacity, their ruthlessness, their ingenuity in the art of war, and their blood lust. I have never seen a species, so heavily outnumbered, and outgunned, utterly destroy their enemies the way Germanic People did in that conflict.

In the centuries since the Germanic Star-Empire eradicated the Veltarian Hegemony and their entire species, they have carved a mighty Empire of their own. One which has evolved at a rapid rate. Technologically speaking, the Germanic race is now at the level of a Tier III Regional Power. However, their tenacity, ruthlessness, cunning, and ability to do anything to survive makes them capable of contending with even sub-galactic powers.

You ask why I am so... What was the word you used? Obsessed with the Germanic Star-Empire, it is because they are the perfect war hound to unleash upon my enemies. They are a race, born, and bred for the purpose of war! In their society, the individual has no value beyond his utility to the state either as an instrument of war or production.

So what if I favor them above all my other vassals? How many of those who swear fealty to our dynasty are able to win a hundred wars in less than three hundred years? Especially when you demand that they fight against enemies that are more powerful than themselves! The Germanic Star-Empire has lost many battles, sure, but they have never lost a war. That is something which the civilizations that have sucked up to us for countless years can not claim themselves.

The fact that you look down on them simply because of the size of their empire is a simple proof that you are still nothing more than a child. But I should expect nothing less than a woman who is not even one thousand years old.

I made you my heir not because of your ability, but as a testament to the love I have for your father. Clearly any one of your sisters would make a better ruler than you. Yet, you still have time to learn and expand your feeble mind. So I won't hold it against you."

Celestia had practically broken the skin of her lip, which she was biting into in an act of frustration after hearing her mother's scolding. Though she now had a better understanding of why the woman favored the GSE so much more than any of her other vassals.

She still had the feeling that there was something more to it than just the fact that they were an exceptional race of warriors. However, since the Empress did not want to inform her of why this was the case, she would not pry further. Instead, the young beauty bowed her head with fidelity to her mother before departing from the room.

Once she was gone, an elderly member of the Light Elven race stepped forward from the shadows, with a peculiar expression on his aging face. He stroked his goatee in contemplation before asking the Empress why she had not chosen to tell her daughter the most important reason for her excessive patronage.

"I wonder if the reason you waited so long to mobilize the fifth fleet was to give your precious hounds an opportunity to expand. After all, you could have dispatched our forces to intercept the Hive Fleet Terminus the moment they entered our borders, and yet you let the Rylonians fall. It was only after the Supreme Leader of the Germanic Star-Empire asked for your assistance that you dispatched your fleet, but where was your concern for your vassals, when the Emperor of the Rylonians begged you for military aid?"

Lunaria scowled at the old sage, who had posed a rather troublesome question to her. Though his assessment of her intentions was indeed accurate, to speak them aloud was nearly an act of treason. After all, if she did confirm this to be true, then the Empress of the Light Elves would be admitting to sacrificing a vassal which had served for her dynasty nearly a million years for a recent upstart. If news of this got out, the entire quadrant would be up in arms over such a scandal.

But did the most powerful woman in this quadrant of the Milky Way Galaxy care about something so petty? No, she did not, and thus she rather shockingly admitted to the whole thing.

"The Rylonians have lost their last fifty wars with the proxies of those hideous dark skinned freaks! Meanwhile, as I previously mentioned, the Germanic race is undefeated against opponents who, by all logic, should have emerged victorious. So what if I sacrificed those losers for my precious little puppies?

Though all life in the Rylonian Imperium has been consumed by those fucking bugs, it is a simple matter of terraforming before those worlds can be absorbed into the Germanic Star-Empire, and if your prophecy indeed becomes reality, then they will have earned such a bountiful reward! Still, it will take millennia for such an upstart civilization to incorporate the vast territory of a sub-galactic power, but when they finally do, they will be the most valuable weapon I have at my disposal."

The elderly elf simply shook his head with disapproval before voicing his thoughts aloud. In the entirety of the Alfheim Imperium, only those old fogies who called themselves sages could speak to the Empress with such informality.

"I am beginning to think that your daughter is correct. You have become obsessed with your newest pets. And when your puppies finally lose in battle against your enemies, what then? Will you regret your choice to sacrifice such an ancient and loyal vassal, for the sake of an upstart civilization?"

Despite the seriousness of the question, Lunaria did not treat it with any urgency, and instead gazed out of her window, into the luscious utopia that was her homeworld. Whatever she was thinking about in that moment, only she knew.