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The Imperial fleets, mobilized and on high alert, remained completely still for hours even after the new allies had departed. This inaction spoke volus about the empire’s deep-seated mistrust of newcors. Every movent, energy fluctuation, and spatial distortion within their monitored zones was being ticulously scrutinized.
Only after ten hours had passed, with no abnormalities detected by any of the empire’s sensors, did the fleets finally begin to take action.
The first sign of movent ca from the emperor himself, issuing a direct command to reduce the empire's situational readiness by three grades. This adjustnt brought a visible shift in operations, as the fleets began to reorganize themselves into three distinct groups.
The first group consisted of ships carrying the real bodies of the soldiers, positioned at the rear of the defensive line. These vessels began their journey back to Earth and Mars bases for recovery, where the soldiers would rotate out for well-deserved vacations.
The second group was made up of ships housing the artificial bodies used by soldiers in combat. These ships were redirected to various strategic points across the solar system, where they would remain dormant until reactivated. Their purpose was to provide rapid response capabilities—should an incident requiring the Imperial Army’s intervention occur, the nearest ship would be activated and deployed imdiately. While this plan had been on the empire’s agenda for so ti, the ergence of powerful enemies accelerated its implentation. The empire’s recent overproduction of combat resources allowed this project to proceed ahead of schedule.
The third and smallest group of ships set a course for the areas where the empire had deployed gravitational bombs. Their mission was twofold: first, to collect data and salvage any remaining materials from the aftermath, particularly fragnts of enemy technology. These materials could potentially be reverse-engineered to enhance the empire’s military effectiveness. Second, the ships were tasked with rectifying the disruptions caused by the black hole bombs. This included destroying smaller asteroids knocked out of their natural orbits and redirecting larger ones back to their original trajectories to prevent them from crashing into the sun or causing unintended damage.
The Colosseum, now under the empire's ownership, was included in the group heading back. Aron intended to repurpose it as a tourist attraction and entertainnt venue, allowing imperial citizens to visit and witness the site where the historic battles had unfolded.
While all these movents were taking place, a significant portion of the military and civilian population was imrsed in a VR simulation, witnessing the dal awarding ceremony honoring the brave soldiers who had fought for the empire. Due to the sheer size of the imperial army involved in the war, only those who had perford truly extraordinary feats were personally awarded by the emperor during the ceremony. The rest received their rewards from their direct superiors.
Even so, the emperor was set to personally honor more than a thousand individuals. To ensure transparency and prevent dissatisfaction, the reasons for each recipient's recognition were broadcasted, with their contributions and the significance of their actions explained to all attendees. This asure was taken to address any potential concerns about the fairness of the selections and to maintain unity and morale among the ranks.
But not everyone could be expected to agree or focus solely on celebrating. There are always individuals who feel the need to oppose the consensus, seeking to set themselves apart, convincing themselves that they are independent thinkers rather than "sheep" who follow the crowd.
Among such individuals, a rumor began to circulate. It claid that the empire was planning to raise taxes to cover the massive war expenses and pay off the significant debts incurred during the conflict. The rumor further suggested that the emperor had used his own company to supply weapons for the war, allegedly selling them to the imperial army at inflated prices to enrich himself under the guise of national defense.
Just as people often forget the sacrifices they promised to make during tis of danger, or the fear they felt when facing the threat of colonization by the Astral Conclave, a small group latched onto these rumors. They pieced together loosely connected dots, convincing themselves they had uncovered a grand conspiracy, and began spreading the claims with fervor.
However, the reaction from the majority of the public wasn’t what this small group had anticipated. Seeing how the emperor had personally risked his own life for the empire—a stark contrast to previous leaders who waged wars driven by hatred, pride, or greed while sending others' children to die as they stayed safe in their luxurious hos—elicited a different response. For the first ti in human history, the majority of the population agreed on the rationality of raising taxes to help recover the imperial economy. This unprecedented unity stemd from the respect and trust the emperor had earned through his actions.
Gaia, who had been closely monitoring the situation, couldn't help but smile with satisfaction. All of these outcos unfolded without her or any of the AIs needing to intervene in shaping public opinion—sothing Aron had ordered they begin reducing several years ago. This marked the first ti a situation of such magnitude had been handled without any external influence.
She had been fully prepared to issue an announcent clarifying that there were no plans to raise taxes, as all the extra funding had co from the imperial family and a reserve fund built from years of consecutive budgetary surpluses. Gaia had planned to step in the mont public opinion began to skew negatively. However, to her relief, there was no longer any need for such an announcent.
That was only if you looked at the situation from the perspective of the humans on Earth. For those in Proxima Centauri, however, this wasn’t even a topic of discussion. For them, even a fifty percent increase in taxes would not have sparked complaints. They viewed the emperor and the empire as a second parent—one who had yet to exploit them for selfish gain. As long as such a betrayal didn’t happen repeatedly, they would continue to trust the emperor wholeheartedly, without hesitation.
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