Interstellar Age

To say that Tia was capable of monitoring pretty much everything within the Milky Way Galaxy, and that within its various satellite galaxies, was an understatement.

She had cast her web of intrigue deep and wide across space. And because of this, she had reached an almost omnipotent level of knowledge regarding everything that was happening within her own sphere of influence.

But that which existed outside her web of intrigue was entirely unknown to her. As was only natural. And though Tia had sent out deep space probes into other galaxies neighboring the Milky Way and Andromeda years ago, none of them had reported back to her.

This was to be expected. After all, most alien civilizations were hostile to the unknown, and if they made contact with a hostile before they could report, it was only natural that they would be destroyed. Even then, this did not make Tia feel any less uneasy.

She had, after all, speculated that much of the universe was currently either under the process of being invaded by the Naraku, or was currently plagued by them. The fact that she knew so little about the neighboring galaxies caused Tia to believe that there was a very real possibility for the Milky Way to suffer a two-prong invasion by both the Naraku in Andromeda, and the Naraku in another nearby galaxy.

It was a very real fear, one that kept Tia awake at night, so to speak, as she tried her best to compensate for this unknown factor that could very well determine whether or not life within the Milky Way was entirely extinguished at the hands of these ravenous bugs.

But until she could get some actual proof of this hypothesis, Tia did not bother alerting Erich. Instead, she focused efforts much in the way she had been, mass military buildup in preparation for the Naraku Invasion.

With each passing year, more and more weapons were being created by the Germanic Star-Empire. Whether it was the entire armadas of warships, or a fleet of armored vehicles as far as the eye could see.

Perhaps even still it was the AUXILIARY Series Support Droids which allowed the Germanic Soldiers, whose numbers increased by the billions with each passing year, to perform exclusively combat roles.

Even still, Tia felt that their current rate of growth was only enough to deal with the Andromeda invasion, and that was if the rest of the Galaxy pitched in with their efforts. But to deal with a secondary invasion from another Galaxy.

Well, there were two feasible solutions to this problem. Firstly, she could double her industrial efforts, as well as begin the process of cloning soldiers to fight in the war alongside the regular Germanic Warriors.

After all, the bugs were innumerable, and much of the fighting would have to be done planet side rather than in space. Because of this, the Germanic Star-Empire simply wasn't reproducing at a rate high enough to compensate for the numbers they would need for such an apocalyptic scenario.

The second solution was to invest in xenoarchaeology, more specifically uncovering many of the lost secrets of Ancient Elven technology. It was no secret that the Ancient Elven Empire was far more advanced in every aspect than their successor states.

The Great Schism had in a way reduced the technological and military capabilities of the Elven Race, one which they never really recovered from despite the million years that have passed since then.

But finding ancient Elven ruins was difficult, as most of them had already been picked through by the Alfheim Dominion and the Svartalfheim Federation. No, if Tia really wanted this advanced technology for herself, she would need to send Erich back to that time to fetch it for her.

Unfortunately, the man's own abilities regarding time travel were limited to a span of recorded human history, at least for the time being. Sure, he could project a time phantom into the distant past, but he himself could not manifest his physical form beyond roughly 7,500 years in the past.

And that was a problem that only Erich could find a solution to. Thus, for the time being, Tia began to opt for the first approach. And that was increasing industrial output, and to begin implementing mass cloning of what she called the perfect Germanic Soldier immediately.

And who best to use as a template for this Legion of the Damned than her beloved Master? Tia did not in the least feel a bit guilty about taking a page from Emrys's book, or at least the tactics he had used in the previous timeline.

And thus she began experimenting with Erich's near perfect genome, creating an army of clones of him with one slight distance. These clones retained the blonde hair and blue eyes which the Germanic Star-Empire prized as a way to visually distinguish themselves from their "father."

Once Tia had done this, she approached Erich. The man was lounging around his penthouse, enjoying a day off. And because of this, Tia was practically scowling when she contacted him.

"Master… I would be remiss if I did not remind you about the importance of your mission. Though I know you organics need your physical rest. I would like to emphasize how important your mission is. You need to continue your efforts to transport your physical form into the past.

Because if I'm being honest, I'm starting to think our best chance of surviving this upcoming apocalyptic and extra-

galactic invasion is for you to fetch me the lost technology of the ancient Elven Empire. So please, whenever you are next available, try to use your powers again to travel further back in time than your previous record…"

Though Tia tried to conceal her anxiety in an attempt to shield her master from her worries, he quickly detected them, and in turn, did not hesitate to interrogate Tia about what she was hiding from him.

"Tia…. What aren't you telling me? Is there something I should be concerned about?"