---Two Days Later, Victor POV ---
Arriving at the Algrand Royal Palace a short ti before our scheduled eting, one of the palace maids ca out to receive us. Greeting everyone with a friendly smile, she led us into the courtyard, where she asked to temporarily dismiss our guards. Giving every assurance that the castle guard would see to our safety during our ti here, the Helldivers began snickering at her words.
“Forgive , but did I say sothing amusing?”, the maid inquired, a bit miffed by their reactions.
“With all due respect, ma’am, Lord Stark is more than capable of protecting his family without our aid. We are simply a deterrent to stop fools from testing his patience.”, one of the soldiers answered, taking up positions near the gate. “Just know that our lord puts the safety and well-being of his family above all else. If he perceives even the slightest threat or slight against them… there is no one here that is going to stop him from putting them down.”
Having seen many lie about themselves to improve their standing within the nobility and royal court, the seasoned maid understood that those were no empty words. Anyone with eyes could see I was a very real threat to most people, even without a weapon in my hands. Hesitantly thanking him for the warning, she turned back to the castle and asked us to continue following her.
Stepping into the foyer, we ca upon an appalling statue positioned in the center of the space. A grueso amalgamation of over thirty individual people, every single one of them wore a tornted expression on their face. Uncertain why sothing so disgusting was on display in the royal palace, Olivia and Serana approached it warily.
“I am interested to know just who carved such a wretched thing. They were either really ssed up in the head or were on so potent drugs.”, Serana comnted, before detecting a minute magic signature within the rock, “Hang on a minute… are these actual people?!”
“We get comnts like that all the ti. Many people are disturbed by it, and that is exactly what it was intended to do.”, the maid admitted with a stone-faced expression. “As you correctly pointed out, it was not chiseled by an artist but made with the use of petrification magic. Just over two thousand years ago, several prominent noble families staged a coup to usurp power from the expansionistic royal family and their supporters. The conflict lasted a grueling ten years, but the moderate faction eventually won out and seized control of the nation. Instating a new, more sensible emperor, the moderate faction turned the surviving royals and their followers to several different statues.”
“I completely understand their desire to have peaceful lives, but petrification is a bit extre. These people will never know peace until the curse is lifted.”, Olivia remarked, looking upon the people with pity, “Two thousand years is quite a long ti. Has no one considered putting an end to their misery?”
“Forgive my rudeness, but you have no idea what you are talking about.”, the maid spoke with a slightly enraged tone. “Trillions of innocent lives were lost to disease, famine, and the constant war effort. Instead of prioritizing the well-being of their subjects, the forr royal family chose to fulfill their own selfish goals. Do you truly believe that people like that deserve rcy?”
While the people who lived through it had every right to seek retribution from the royal family, none of those people were still among the living anymore. When the last of them passed on, the current royal family should have had them executed to settle the matter. Instead of showing them rcy, they turned them into artwork for others to berate and gawk at.
“My apologies… I did not know.”, Olivia said, backtracking to avoid causing trouble.
“No, I should be the one apologizing. As a foreigner, you cannot be expected to know every detail about our nation’s history.”, the maid responded, glancing at her wristwatch, “We should get moving again; it is almost ti for your scheduled eting with the emperor.”
Imdiately departing from the foyer, we proceeded down an adjoining hallway decorated with portraits of past emperors. Arriving at an ornately decorated steel door three minutes later, the maid handed us over to the royal guard before excusing herself. Returning to her normal duties, the guards asked us to wait here until we were summoned into the throne room.
“Introducing Primarch Victor von Stark of the Imperium of Man and his family!”, the royal usher announced as the doors began to open, “Please enter and be recognized by His Majesty Emperor Heraclius Barbieri the Third!”
Striding into the room, the nobility and servants fell silent as a great pressure bore down upon them. Keeping my eyes fixed on their emperor, beads of sweat began running down his face as his survival instincts kicked into overdrive. Even though I was doing my best to subdue my intense presence, it was apparently still too much for the middle-aged man.
“Welco to the Algrand Empire, Lord Stark…”, Barbieri nervously said, patting the sweat from his face with a handkerchief, “It is an honor and privilege to et the hero of the Galactic Republic and Imperium of Man.”
“Thank you for the warm reception, Emperor Barbieri. I appreciate you taking the ti to et with today.”, I replied, observing his movents closely.
“In your formal missive, you expressed an interest in establishing diplomatic and trade relations with our nation. May I inquire why the Imperium of Man has suddenly taken an interest in international relations?”, Barbieri inquired, fully aware of the Imperium’s isolationist stance over the past twenty-two thousand years.
“They are making changes to their national policies after I shared with them disturbing information about the Tyranid threat this region has been facing. Up till this point, your people have only been engaging in fights with their advanced forces. Their main force is still locked in a bloody struggle in our region of the universe.”, I answered, having only co up with this explanation a few days ago.
Shifting in his seat uncomfortably, the emperor turned to the pri minister for his input. Stepping forward, the older man inquired if I had proof to support my claim. Informing that a group of Asari representatives from the Citadel were supposed to have spoken with them about this subject a month ago, they unfortunately never showed up to their eting. Realizing that Jabba had almost inadvertently dood this region of space, I regretted not making him suffer more.
“The Republic is currently out looking for them now; they were unfortunately captured by the Hutt and Orion Syndicates en route to your eting. When I launched an invasion of Tatooine, we discovered several items belonging to the Asari ambassador in Jabba’s possession.”, I explained, retrieving docunts ant for the empire, “Here is what they intended to provide you with.”
“So that is what happened; we will notify the Citadel of this developnt. Our nation has a long-standing relationship with the Citadel; hopefully, it will be enough to prevent an ard conflict.”, the pri minister remarked, receiving the docunts from .
“As for my proof, I have a dead corpse and several videos to share with you,” I said, “May I?”
“Of course.”, the pri minister confird, motioning for the guards to be at the ready. “Please go ahead.”
Retrieving the artificial body that Luxion created for today from my inventory, the throne room went into a ltdown as they gazed upon the grotesque creature. Standing at a full six feet tall, the mutant praying mantis creature looked every bit as horrifying as the actual ones in the videos. Playing the security footage for everyone to see, a few won let out terrified screams while the emperor fainted on his throne. Even the guards, who were ant to protect everyone here, turned tail and fled the scene.
“We… We will have order in the throne room!”, the pri minister shouted, trembling with fear as he attempted to take control of the situation.
Drowning out the pri minister’s words with their own, many noblen began arguing over how the empire should best prepare for this threat. Watching the arguing devolve into brawls, I looked at the pri minister, wondering how he intended to regain control. Regaining a bit of his composure, he made several attempts to stop them by rely shouting at them, but we were well past that being a viable option. Since the emperor was out cold and the pri minister was incapable of doing anything, I stepped in to silence the mob.
“Enough of this! You are all leaders of the Algrand Empire; act like it!”, I roared, slamming my foot into the floor, causing the imdiate vicinity to violently shake. “The Algrand Empire, Galactic Republic, Imperium of Man, and other neighboring galactic nations have plenty of ti to prepare for this threat. Do not allow yourselves to be swallowed up by doubt and fear! Begin stockpiling vital resources now, form a united front with your galactic neighbors, and prepare yourselves for a bloody war.”
“Lord Stark is right; we cannot afford to let our emotions run rampant. Whether we like it or not, these monstrosities are coming toward us.”, Liam agreed, rising from his seat amongst his fellow noblen, “As one of the strongest nations in this region of space, our intergalactic peers will look to us for guidance and leadership during this turbulent ti. Stop acting like children; show the sa bravery our ancestors did two thousand years ago when they risked it all to overthrow the tyrannical imperial family. We must form a plan of action to resolve this matter and begin executing it imdiately. Who is with !?”
Loudly applauding his words, Liam’s allies stood up and voiced their agreent as well. Giving the self-proclaid evil nobleman a respectful nod, he stepped out from his colleagues to address formally.
“Lord Stark, what information can you share with us about the bugs?”, Liam asked. “As soone who has fought them personally, you are the most well-inford out of everyone here.”
‘Haha… everyone here knows just about as much as I do. My forces are unable to jump directly there right now, probably due to the residual aftereffects of the experintal Folding Drives. As for using the Force to have a look, I cannot establish a connection to the region for so reason. With all that in mind, for the foreseeable future, I can only work with what little information I have from the series I read.’, I thought, taking a mont to collect my thoughts, “Of course, allow to share everything I know with you and what current asures we are using to stall their advance.”
Giving the Algrand nobles a detailed explanation of everything I knew, I then provided them with copies of the security footage and star charts of the region. While most nobles were satisfied with what was provided, Liam’s maid continued to stare at . Unlike the humans here, the AI was able to ascertain there was more to the story than what I was sharing. Asking Liam to speak on his behalf, he readily agreed without a second thought.
“While the information you have provided is more than sufficient to begin preparations for our defenses, it does not explain how the Tyranids reached us already. Presumably the Tyranids you are fighting possess only Warp Drives, which ans any force that bypassed your defenses should only now be arriving in the Citadel’s region.”, Amagi remarked. “How did they cover such a large distance in only a few thousand years?”
“I have a hypothesis about that, but all the evidence I have thus far is circumstantial at best.”, I answered, giving the most likely reason to explain it, “There is an ancient race of xenos in the Imperium of Man’s territory called the Necrons who may have inadvertently brought them here. In the aftermath of a great war sixty million years ago, their last king went into self-imposed exile for forcing his people to relinquish their physical bodies for chanized ones. After departing from this region, he is believed to have road aimlessly for all these years until abruptly returning several hundred years ago. His return almost perfectly aligns with the arrival of the Tyranids in this region of space.”
“Is there a reason you have not verified this hypothesis with these Necrons?”, Amagi asked.
“The Silent King and his people rarely ever choose to converse with organic beings. When they do choose to speak with others, it is almost always to further their own agenda. They seek to reclaim their ancient territory and regain organic bodies, but progress on both fronts has been slow as there is significant infighting amongst the ruling class.”, I elaborated, “While I have considered trying to contact them myself, I have been otherwise preoccupied assisting my ancestral holand and the Republic until now.”
Nodding her head, Amagi thanked for the additional information. Sitting back down beside Rosetta, the emperor began regaining consciousness once again. Mumbling a few incoherent things, as he slowly opened his eyes, he quickly composed himself when he noticed many nobles were on their feet. Unsure what had occurred while he was out, Emperor Barbieri looked to the pri minister for an overview.
“I will brief you on the information Lord Stark provided after our eting is completed.”, the pri minister answered, needing ti to process everything himself. “Moving on, what does the Imperium of Man need from us?”
“I will be honest with you; the Imperium of Man’s technology is severely lacking, and they can barely recreate items from their golden age twenty thousand years ago. They are on the road to recovery now, but it will take several decades for them to catch up with their neighbors. To expedite the process, I recomnded purchasing antiquated shipbuilding technology and warships from your nation.”, I explained, believing an honest answer was the best option here.
“That is a big request; what do you have to offer in exchange for it?”, the emperor questioned.
“The Imperium is not asking for a handout; they are willing to pay fair market value for anything you offer them. To sweeten the deal, I will supply the data necessary to create a Wormhole Drive,” I answered, having carefully thought about this, ‘It is an extrely watered-down version of the Folding Drive my forces utilize. It has a limit of a two- to three-galaxy jump based on the power made available to it.’
Visibly elated by this offer, he accepted the deal without hesitation. Telling the pri minister to hamr the finer details out with , the emperor rose to his feet and began hobbling away. Hit with a horrible sll, a few seconds after he stood up, it was very apparent he had shit himself. Wanting to avoid embarrassing their nation any further, the pri minister asked us to follow him to his office to discuss the details of the agreent. Stowing the insectoid corpse away, my family and I followed him to his office, which was in the adjoining room.
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