Interstellar Age

Erich had gotten accustomed to the life of a political leader, even though in this life it was much more hands on than simply relying on Tia for everything like he had in his past life. He had been by the Supreme Leader's side for every step of the journey. In fact, today Erich would be sent on a diplomatic journey to the Dvrakian Consortium to discuss the matter of the Terminus Hive Fleet and its journey to their borders. 

Or more specifically, the Deputy Leader of the Germanic Star-Empire had been sent for this cause, and Erich was to act as an advisor to the man. While Erich's official title was a Captain of the Black Guard, he seldom walked around in Power Armor these days, and instead wore his military dress uniform while acting as an adjutant to the Supreme Leader himself, and in this case the Deputy Leader. 

The Deputy Leader of the Empire was actually older than his superior by at least a century. He was nearly two hundred years old, and had only begun to show signs of aging. His blonde hair was greying on the sides, and there were only the most minor of wrinkles on his face. 

After all, the standard lifespan of a Germanic Citizen was two hundred and fifty years old. But they did not begin to show any signs of age until they were roughly two hundred. Thus, this man, whose name was Karl Heydrich only appeared to be middle-aged by human standards. 

While Erich was in a black uniform that displayed his status as a special forces operative, Karl was in a brown uniform with gold embroidery, showing off the fact that he was a high-ranking member of the NSDAP. 

The two of them stood before a representative of the Dvrakian Consortium. The Dvrakian Consortium was not a single party state like the GSE, nor was it ruled by a Fascist dictator. Instead, it was a republic style government. One who individual star systems held a certain degree of autonomy. 

Foreign Diplomats seldom ever spoke with the Dvrakian Prime Minister, as he was limited solely to what he could pass through a vote by the assembly. Only in times of emergency, such as war, did the Prime Minister have any power to override the assembly and force his will upon the people. 

Because of this, if one wanted to actually curry favor with the Dvrakian Consortium, then they needed to speak with the individual system governors and convince them to vote in favor of a proposal that suited the interests of these foreign dignitaries. 

It was for this reason that the Deputy Leader did not visit the capital of the Dvrakian Consortium, which was simply the world of Dvrakia, but rather an industrial powerhouse of the Minor Power, whose influence of the entire consortium was significant. 

The world of Thexkar was a planet that Erich had visited during his past life. But when he visited it, it was during a covert operation to rescue S'aleth from her father, who had gone from being a Dvrakian Politican, to a Separatist leader, after the Dvarkain Consortium folded and became a puppet of the Empire. 

And it was none other than S'aleth's father, S'varin who Erich and Karl were visiting. Erich's impression of the man was not favorable. In his past life, the man kidnapped his own daughter, and tortured her after finding out she had slept with an alien, which was none other than Erich. The severe damage that was done to the young woman's body would forever be seared into Erich's memory.

But Erich couldn't let past grudges cloud his judgement... It was a new timeline, one where the Germanic Star-Empire no longer had a need to invade Dvrakian Space, and instead sought to handle this matter diplomatically. 

Thus, Erich stood with a stoic expression on his face as he shook the the Dvrakian Governor's hand and introduced himself. 

"Captain Erich Jaeger. It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Tavarian."

The middle-aged Dvrakian man smiled politely at Erich, and Karl, who had introduced himself before Erich, while speaking some thoughts of his own.

"It's not every day we have contact with our neighbors in the south... After all, I don't mean to offend you both, but your Empire is not known to be the most sociable bunch... And by the way you can just call me S'varin.

So... An official diplomatic envoy from the Germanic Star-Empire... Something big must be happening for you a lot to pay our little civilization even the slightest amount of attention. So why don't I get us started with some proper refreshments? Please sit down and make yourselves comfortable."

Though he may sound polite, S'varin's remark of his "little civilization" was a subtle jab at the Germanic Envoy, whose overall borders were not even large enough to be considered a Minor Power on the Galactic Index. If not for their supreme military and industrial might, then the Germanic Star-Empire would be marginally better off on the galactic stage than the Confederation of Human Worlds.

But just because the Empire's borders were small, did not mean they were not a force to be reckoned with. And because of this, S'varin didn't outright insult Karl or Erich, knowing that a war between their two civilizations could prove fatal to his people's sovereignty. 

Erich had long since gotten accustomed too diplomacy, having made a few horrendous errors in his past life that nearly cost him his life, he had learned common decency and courtesy to a fault so as to prevent himself from ever stepping foot in such a mess again. 

Thus, he remained silent while letting Karl do most of the talking. And it was while the two politicians were speaking that a familiar face entered the room. S'aleth was not dressed in the flight suit that Erich had grown accustomed to seeing her in during his past life. Rather, she was dressed in the traditional attire of her people, or more specifically those members of the upper class.

To say that the Dvrakian civilization was modest would be a lie. In fact, they were a passionate and amorous species. One which had little problems with their men and women dressing is shall we say, revealing clothing. Only a politician or a diplomat such as S'varin would take the time out of his schedule to cover every inch of his skin that was not his hands and face. 

But S'aleth, she wore a dress that left very little to the imagination. And though this did not catch the attention of Karl. Erich stared at the young succubus, struggling to keep his mouth shut. At the end of his past life, he had saved S'aleth from her fate. But... They never truly reconnected at an emotional level. Their bond was shattered, and Erich's self-hatred after joining Terminus only further acted as a wedge between them. 

Like Erika, S'aleth was one of the women Erich desperately wanted to make things up to in this life. But he could not outright approach her as if he knew her. Thus, before he could draw attention to himself, he snapped his focus back to the discussion at hand, while S'aleth served him, her father, and Karl drinks. 

Evidently S'varin had caught Erich staring at his daughter, and thus he wore a forced smile while addressing the man, seeking to catch him off guard.

"Tell me... Captain Jaeger was it? What do you think of the current situation?.."

Erich was, of course, not so easy to entrap, at least not after the thirty years of experience he had navigated the world in his past life. Thus, he was quick to force a stoic facade, as he answered the question in a way that did not reveal his thoughts towards S'aleth. 

"It is exactly as the Deputy Leader has explained... The Naraku are coming for you, and then for us. They will devour everything in their path. And though we are currently working to reinforce our borders, we do not wish to have a migrant crisis on our hands in addition to an extinction level event.

Thus, I believe our offer of helping to relocate your people to a more secure sector of space in exchange for your worlds is a more than reasonable offer... After all, we have already selected an area of space that suits your needs, and can readily terraform the worlds so that they are ideal to suit your species and those livestock you bring with you."

Erich had expressed the Deputy Leader's words almost exactly as he had himself. However, there was one additional word that Erich added to butter the pot so to speak. Terraforming was an advanced technology that only the Galactic Powers had access to. It was highly coveted by all civilizations, as it meant that they could settle any solid celestial body, and make it ideal for their species' needs. 

For Erich to claim that the GSE had the means of terraforming worlds, it meant that they may very well have the power to halt the Naraku's advance. After all, the goal of this negotiation was resettle the Dvrakians elsewhere like Erich had claimed, but rather to gain military access to their borders, and to prepare the Dvrakians for a war against the Naraku in a similar strategy that the GSE had used in Erich's previous life to buy time for themselves. 

When S'varin heard the word terraform, his eyes opened wide with disbelief, which was an emotion he was quick to express.

"I'm sorry, did you just say terraform? Pardon my skepticism but I doubt a mere regional power such as yourselves possess such technology. If you did, then you would have settled every barren rock in your meager borders already..."

S'varin was no longer holding back his contempt for the Germanic Star-Empire. In fact, he had outright insulted Erich and Karl this time around. But the two men kept calm, as Erich activated his NeuroLink which projected a hologram from his eyes so that everyone else could see what he was seeing. 

Erich zoomed in on the hologram to the borders of the Germanic Star-Empire, where he revealed several moons, dwarf planets, and even barren worlds, all of which were currently being terraformed and fortified by Tia for the coming war. 

While the Germanic Star-Empire had a hundred worlds under their control. These were those that were easiest to terraform, and had been done so by the Alfheim Dominion in return for the victories that the Germanic Military had won for them during the past one hundred proxy wars.

Yet now that Tia was in control of the Empire, they had terraforming technology, which they were applying to every single celestial body they could for the purpose of expanding their population, and building fortifications for their future wars. 

S'varin could hardly believe his eyes as he saw these barren rocks be transformed into continental worlds whose climates strongly resembled Earth, or more specifically Europe, which was most suitable for the Germanic race to thrive in. Just when he was about to ask how this was possible, Erich wore a smug smirk on his face before posing a question of his own. 

"Do you believe me now?"