Interstellar Age

As quickly as Tia had promised, the twenty-eight members of the Dvrakian Assembly who were proven to be corrupt and in the way of protecting the interests of the Dvrakain Consortium and the Germanic Star-Empire were assassinated.

Their deaths were made to appear as accidents, and were done in such a way that, while questionable, were impossible to prove otherwise. Erich naturally knew of the means Tia had used to eliminate these politicians.

She had created lifelike androids operating on a moderate level artificial intelligence that could perfectly mimic a living being. If not for the fact that Erich was working together with S'varin and Karl on this matter.

He would have gone so far as to replace the dead 28 with android counterparts who were perfectly loyal to Erich. And the thing is, nobody would ever be able to actually tell the difference between the advanced android and the living being they had replaced.

But this practice was outright forbidden by galactic common law, and because of this Erich would never reveal this card to anyone, no matter how close he may be to them. Only he and Tia knew that they possessed this technology, and it would remain that way until the end of time.

Thus, immediately after these Assembly members mysteriously died, S'varin pushed for a temporary halt to their replacement, and instead initiated a vote on establishing further diplomatic, economic, and military ties to the Germanic Star-Empire, as well as allowing military access through their borders to the Germanic Star-Empire.

This was an unusual request, and the fact that it had come directly after the deaths of the dead twenty eight made S'varin's rivals all the more suspicious. But S'varin had bought out the neutral party within the Assembly, who voted in favor of the political party that S'varin personally represented.

With a 2/3s majority, these votes passed. However, that was to be expected. What was the more difficult vote to achieve was the five-year plan that S'varin proposed for re-armament of the Dvrakian Defense Forces, as well as the immediate enactment of Full Conscription.

These ideas were at first met with opposition both from the rival political party and the neutral party. But after S'varin displayed the evidence that Erich had provided him with regarding Terminus being on a direct collision course for the Dvrakian Consortium, any naysayers that may have opposed the vote were already covertly eliminated by Tia and her android assassins.

Because of this, the Dvrakian Consortium entered a state of remilitarization that set many of its neighbors into a state of alarm. After all, the weapons they would be acquiring to support their armed forces were being purchased by none other than the Germanic Star-Empire.

This was so alarming that the suzerains of the Dvrakian Consortium actually dispatched their own diplomatic envoys to find out just what was happening, and whether or not the Dvrakian Consortium was preparing for a war of independence.

S'varin sat in a room with the Enochian envoys. By his side were none other than Karl and Erich, who represented the interests of the Germanic Star-Empire in these discussions. If the Dvrakians were reminiscent of fictional devils, then the Enochians were the exact opposite, being the literal personification of the fantastical concept of angels.

The two sides both considered each other hideous, but from Erich's perspective the women of both species were absolutely stunning in their own unique ways. Still, Erich remained silent as the Enochian envoys questioned the motives of their vassals.

"It is the Heavenly Father's opinion that the Dvrakian Consortium is currently conspiring with the Germanic Star-Empire to violate their oaths of vassalage towards our esteemed race. As a loyal servant of the Heavenly Father, we share his opinion on this matter and demand that both the Dvrakain Consortium and the Germanic Star-Empire immediately cease and desist from their revolutionary actions. Any further attempts to rearm the Dvrakian Defense Forces will be considered an act of war!

Both Karl and S'varin wanted to respond diplomatically to this threat, but before they could do so, Erich scoffed, and gazed upon the little winged gnat in front of him as if she were nothing more than a insect.

Perhaps it was the ten years he spent as a dictator of his own sector of space. While having the rest of the Galaxy fear his army, but Erich had grown accustomed to dealing with threats with a proportional response. Thus, he responded to the Enochian envoy with an equally harsh tone in his voice.

"Somebody overestimates their importance on the Galactic Stage... How amusing..."

The Angelic beauty gave Erich a stern gaze, as she immediately questioned if he had just insulted her.

"Excuse me? I'm sorry I didn't quite hear that! For a second, I thought you were insulting us!"

Yet Erich did not even stutter as he quickly responded to this hostile remark with one of his own.

"You think if we wanted to support an armed insurrection we would be selling them our old military equipment? The Empire has the ability to wipe out the Enochian fleet in a single battle, and we could do it a thousand times over before we were forced to repair or replace any of our vessels.

This isn't about you. This is about Terminus and the fact that it is on a direct course to the Dvrakian Consortium, and by extension the borders of the Empire. If you don't believe me, S'varin here can show you the proof."

The Enochian delegate was stupified by these remarks. Few civilizations were advanced enough to have the deep space sensors necessary to detect the Naraku without said sensor arrays being destroyed before they could even collect the data. For the GSE to have such technology, it meant that they were more advanced than the Enochian Theocracy had thought they were.

Because of this, she stopped addressing Erich, who had a frightening expression on his face, and instead spoke to S'varin, seeking confirmation on this matter.

"Is this true? Are the Naraku really headed this way?"

S'varin had a solemn expression on his face as he nodded his head before opening up the data pad he had previously used to prove this exact point to the Dvrakian Assembly.

"Thanks to our friends in the Germanic Star-Empire, we have indeed been able to confirm this is true. If you were to ask your own overlord, they would also be able to confirm this information. As you can see, the Naraku Splinter Fleet, known as Terminus, is on a direct course towards Germanic space. We just happen to be in their way.

Because of this, we are taking the necessary measures to defend our territory, and with the aid of the Germanic Armed Forces we believe that we may be able to halt the advancing storm long enough for the Alfheim Dominion to send reinforcements.

It is our best option for survival. After all, even if we immediately began evacuating now, an estimated 90% of Dvrakian life would be extinguished as would our existing civilization and culture. We would become nomadic and left to the cruelty of the galaxy.

Our race may not be the renowned warriors that our neighbors to the south are, but our pride would have us rather die in battle, then face such a cruel fate with a vain hope of survival..."

The Enochian host looked at both S'varin and Erich before sighing heavily. It was difficult for religious fanatics to ever admit they were wrong. And thus she grit her teeth before saving whatever face she could.

"Perhaps the prophet misinterpreted the Heavenly Father's words... Very well, with this evidence I will believe that your intentions are out of defense, and not aggression. Though if you do manage to survive the coming cataclysm, we expect you to disarm yourselves once more... Good day, S'varin, and may the Heavenly Father bestow your people with his divine protection!"

After saying this, the Enochian host departed not wanting to stay another moment in a world they had already written off as "doomed to extinction."