Interstellar Age

The War had begun, and Erich quickly found himself on the front lines. Against a Minor Power like that Dvrakian Consortium, it would normally take the Germanic Star-Empire a few months to achieve total victory.

After all, it was not like Minor Powers had access to fortress worlds which would prolong the suffering that the Germanic Military would have to endure during their conquest. However, because the Dvrakian Consortium had managed to rope their suzerain and allies into the war, it was unknown how long this war would last.

In fact, it was actually a gamble on the part of the Admiralty, because if they could win the war within a year, then it vastly increased their chances of survival against Terminus, while if they failed to accomplish this objective, it vastly increased their odds of extinction.

Of course, Erich did not need to concern himself with the thoughts of the Admiralty. Instead, he needed to focus on one thing, and one thing alone. Destroying the enemy in front of him. At the moment Erich was in his Bolt interceptor as it zipped through the combat zone, outside of a Dvrakian border world, where the 1st Armada of the Imperial Navy fought against a combined force of the Dvrakian Navy and their allies.

This was Erich's first time experiencing actual combat, and because of that he had so much adrenaline running through his veins he might as well be a meth addict. Of course, this was not just a matter of natural adrenaline production, but the result of adrenal stimulants which were injected into his body via his flight suit from the moment he took off from the hangar bay.

There was a wide grin on Erich's face, which was obscured by his obsidian black visor, which projected an image of a bright red human skull on its surface. If the enemy were to gaze upon his appearance at this moment, they might be intimidated. Luckily for them, they could not see the frightening uniform which displayed Erich's status as a member of the most elite starfighter squadron in the Imperial Navy.

Erich continued to navigate through the battlefield with masterful skill as he spotted his first target, which was chasing after an Imperial Dagger. He quickly gunned his engines and shot after the hostile fighter at breakneck speeds, whereupon lining up the sights of his targeting array, Erich pulled the trigger on his joystick, thus sending a rain of laser and plasma projectiles at his opponent.

The laser and plasma projectiles ate through the primitive energy shields of the Dvrakian starfighter, and ignited the entire vehicle, causing it to explode in a matter of seconds. Though Erich could not see the face of the man he just killed, he felt a bit of excitement flood his heart and mind, as he was now a true veteran pilot.

A voice spoke through Erich's helmet, which he quickly identified as the Lieutenant Commander in charge of his wing, known primarily by the callsign "Totenkopf"

"Nice one, Silber, but make sure to watch your six!"

After saying this, Totenkopf fired an antimatter missile which detonated against the hull of an Enochian starfighter which was tailing Erich from behind. Seeing that he almost got shot down after only a single kill, Erich began to focus his attention on his surroundings, as much as what was in front of him. Where he quickly found an enemy bomber heading towards the destroyer which Karl was stationed on.

Seeing that a friend of his might be in danger, Erich gunned after the enemy bomber, and began to light up its frame with his laser repeaters, rapidly whittling down its shields until they were depleted where he fired an antimatter missile at it.

Though the enemy deployed his countermeasures, such a petty trick would not work against Erich's missiles. After all, he had the power to manipulate machines with his mind, and thus he personally guided the missile into its target with his thoughts. As the bomber exploded, Erich cheered before cursing out the man he had just killed.

"Take that, you red bastard! Thinking of killing Karl, fat chance!"

---

While the battle continued to rage on above the world of Therakles, in which Erich was a participant, the High Priestess of the Enochian Empire was sitting on her home world with an expression of disbelief on her face. It was as if the sky was falling on top of her, and she could not understand just how her enemies had managed to become so powerful in such a short amount of time.

"How…. How is this possible?"

The Germanic Star-Empire had surprised their enemies with a Navy so large, they might as well be a sub-galactic power. The Germanic Navy had ten Armadas, which were each composed of Ten Fleets, each of which had a minimum of one hundred warships among its ranks.

A single armada of the Imperial Navy contained at least 1,000 warships, which was more than all the Enochian Theocracy's vassals combined. The High Priestess had sent the entire power of her vassals, as well as a quarter of her naval strength to the world of Therakles in its defense, and yet the Germanic Star-Empire had only sent one tenth of its Naval Strength and despite this was already close to emerging victorious.

Where were the other nine armadas of the Germanic Star-Empire at this moment? Well, two of them were guarding their borders, while the other six were dispatched to the Enochian Theocracy and its other six vassals.

While the vassals of the Enochian Theocracy had sent their entire navies to the Dvrakian Consortium, they had left themselves wide open for an attack by the Germanic Star-Empire. Never in their wildest dreams would they have believed that such a young upstart of a nation would have the strength to fight a seven nation army without even breaking a sweat. It was truly maddening.

While the High Priestess of the Enochian Theocracy scrambled what ships she could manage to fight against the invasion of her enemies, she immediately opened up her hailing frequency to contact the Supreme Leader of the Germanic Star-Empire. However, for whatever reason, it was not Hans who answered the call, but the Grand Admiral who had declared war in the first place.

This was shocking to the High Priestess, who could only assume that a coup had taken place in the Germanic Star-Empire, regardless if this was true, she needed to end this war before half of her civilization was destroyed in this foolish conflict.

"Call off your fleets from the Enochian Theocracy, now! Or else I will not hesitate to request support from my Suzerain!"

This was no small threat. Normally, a vassal would only call for their Suzerain's aid if they felt like the survival of their species was threatened. Judging by the history of the Germanic Star-Empire, the only thing those barbarians would do to the Enochians if they successfully managed to conquer them was genocide.

A smug smile appeared on Alaric's face as he spoke in perfect Enochian to the High Priestess. "Of course, you were never our target in the first place. Abandon your vassal to our conquest, and we will withdraw our forces from your borders."

The beautiful angel-like creature bit her lip in frustration. She could not believe that these barbarians were forcing her to make such a horrific decision. After all, the Enochian Theocracy believed that all sentient life was created in the image of their god.

To abandon the Dvrakians to genocide would go against all the teachings she preached as the High Priestess of the Enochian Theocracy. Even if she personally found the red-skinned devils to be particularly hideous, that did not mean that they deserved to go extinct, and thus she was quick to make her demands, which she could only back up through the threat of her masters.

"I will do so, but only if you agree not to exterminate the Dvrakians like you have done to so many others in the past! If you do not agree to this request, then I will call upon my Suzerain, who will certainly punish you for your wicked deeds!"

Alaric merely scoffed. His society was exclusively atheist and found religion to be nothing more than primitive superstition that somehow managed to carry over into the interstellar age. Still, the goal was not to expend their military resources in a war with a sub-galactic power. Even if they might have a chance of emerging victorious, they could not replace the damage dealt in such a conflict within three years, which was the deadline before Terminus arrived in their sector of space.

Under normal circumstances, Alaric would tell to high priestess to suck on a fat cock simply out of the principle of the thing, but right now, he needed the Dvrakians as a buffer against the Naraku. And, thus, he simply sighed and nodded his head in agreement, before making up some excuse that made it seem like he would keep his word.

"Very well, I can spare the Dvrakians. After all, I find their women to be quite attractive. They will make excellent slaves for my people's pleasure…."

The High Priestess looked at Alaric with absolute disgust, not because of his words. In fact, pleasure slaves were a quite common fate for species which were deemed to be attractive by their conquerors. No, what caused the High Priestess to revile in such an over-exaggerated way was because Alaric had said that he found the red devils to be attractive.

First off, she had never heard of the Germanic Star-Empire considering anyone other than their own as attractive, and the very idea that it would be those red devils, instead of her race filled her with fury, partially due to her wounded pride, as a race that even the Alfheim Dominion considered being exceptionally attractive. If only the Enochian Theocracy was considerably more powerful, then they too would have the privilege of being a vassal of the Alfheim Dominion.

Upon seeing the look on the High Priestess's face, Alaric's lips curled into a sneer as he accurately guessed that the woman's pride had been wounded, before making a suggestion which only further enraged her.

"Oh? Are you perhaps jealous? Well, don't worry, your race is also quite attractive. If you really want, I suppose I can take your species as pleasure slaves as well…."

The nerve that this man had was enough to make the High Priestess rethink some of her religious teachings; however she forcibly calmed herself before responding to the Grand Admiral with a particularly irritated tone in her angelic voice.

"Do what you want with those filthy devils! We will withdraw our fleets immediately. As for how long it takes you to conquer their civilization, that depends on your ability!"

Alaric simply smiled before responding in a smug voice.

"It has been a pleasure doing business with you…."

After saying this, he hung up and recalled his armadas from the territory of the Enochian Theocracy and its six other vassals. The Grand Admiral then deployed the full might of the Imperial Military into the borders of the Dvrakian Consortium, with the intent to end the war as quickly as possible.

---

Erich shot down his one hundredth kill after only three hours of combat. Having done so, he observed the Enochian Warships which still remained intact spool up their warp drives, and flee from the battlefield. Where the other six vassals of their civilization immediately followed suit.

When it finally dawned on the Dvrakian forces that they had been abandoned by their masters and allies, they felt as if all hope was lost. Still, the Germanic Star-Empire had a reputation for genocide, and thus, they did not dare cease their hostilities, in fear of the consequences that awaited their species if they should do so.

Thus, even though the war was now guaranteed to end in a Germanic victory, the Dvrakians would force the Germanic Military to fight tooth and nail over the distance of three hundred star systems in order to fully subjugate the minor power which defied their conquest.