Interstellar Age

Chapter 345 Calming the Fury of an Empress

The destruction of the Hive Fleet Terminus caused a massive commotion within the Milky Way Galaxy. In Erich's past life, the Galaxy was practically lit aflame with the news that the Germanic Star-Empire had managed to defeat a Naraku Hive Fleet practically on their own.

But in this timeline, it was so much worse. After all, the Hive Fleet was decimated before it could even descend on the first Dvrakian World. Any recordings of the event showed a flash of light appearing out of thin air that destroyed the Queenship.

The aftermath was a simple and expected turn of events. Without access to the hive mind, the Naraku Hive Fleet turned on itself, and during the ensuing chaos, the GSE and its allies swept in and mopped up the survivors.

It was a quick and overwhelming victory. One that left many questions in the minds of the Galaxy and its many leaders. Among these was none other than the Alfheim Empress herself who immediately embarked on a journey to her favorite puppet's territory in a quest to gain answers on what that flash of light was. A question that the entire galaxy was now asking itself.

The Alfheim Dominion's technology was greater than most civilizations. Because of this, the Empress was able to traverse a vast distance of space in a very short period of time. Thus, only a matter of days passed before she arrived in Germania. Where Erich and Hans laid out the red carpet for her arrival.

A celebration was taking place, where Erich was accredited by the overwhelming victory that saw the survival of his people and that of their allies. But these celebrations came to a swift and sudden pause when the Alfheim Empress stepped foot in the Citadel of the Empire, as if she were its ruler.

She effortlessly walked to the dining hall where the Supreme Leader of the Germanic Star-Empire entertained his guests, and screamed at him for an answer in front of the entire leadership of the Empire, and the many delegates who had come to pay their respects.

"What the hell was that, Hans? And don't bullshit me! I know for a fact that you know exactly what managed to detect and eliminate that Queenship in a single decisive blow! You better have a satisfactory answer for me, or I swear to ancient gods that I will have your head for treason!"

Celestia had never seen her mother so furious before, and because of this she actually blushed in embarassment. The dignity of the ancient Empress had vanished in a second, as she scolded her vassal as if he were a condemned traitor.

Everyone remained as still as the dead, as if they were afraid to suddenly become as such, when they heard Lunaria's shrill voice pierce the festivities. Everybody obviously had the same question as Lunaria, but none dared to ask the Supreme Leader for his secrets.

But now that Lunaria had demanded answers, they were all too eager to remain silent and hear what possible explanation Hans and the Empire had for their shocking victory against what should have been a catastrophic foe.

Shockingly, however, it was not Hans who stepped forward to quell the Alfheim Empress's wrath, but rather Erich. Who after several decades as his lover in his past life, knew just how to calm the mighty monarch's fury.

He immediately stepped forward, and pulled out his sidearm, which he presented to the Elven beauty as he kneeled in front of her while bowing his head in an act of both submission and loyalty, which he was quick to express.

"If you have already deemed us guilty, then please enact your justice upon me... As I am the one at fault for displeasing you my Empress... But if you are not yet convinced of our wrongdoing, then I request you give me reprieve, at least until I can answer your questions... If you still consider the Empire at fault for crimes of treason, then by all means end my life..."

Since her last encounter with Erich, Lunaria had used her power to find out every bit of information on the man she could possibly find. In fact, one might say she had developed a peculiar fascination with the man, and why he acted so different towards her as the rest of his species.

She held the pistol in her hand, which upon inspection was indeed fully loaded. Yet, Lunaria did not pull the trigger, instead she activated the safety, before resting it by her side. Despite showing Erich leniency, there was a look of utter fury in her golden eyes as she demanded a satisfactory answer from the man.

"I will reserve my judgement until after you have given me an explanation about how your people suddenly came to possess such power! But know this boy... Your charm and loyal facade can only get you so far... If you dare to answer my questions in an unsatisfactory manner, I will execute you and the entire leadership of your race! Do not tempt me!"

Erich could tell Lunaria was indeed furious, and thus he pulled out a card that she was not expecting. He rose without permission and spoke to the woman while looking into her eyes.

"Very well. I will explain everything. Roughly four years ago, after our analysts had determined that the Naraku were on a direct collision course for the Germanic Star-Empire. We began searching for anything we could find that might be used as a weapon against them...

In our searches, we found that on one of the barren worlds that existed within our borders was a hidden bunker... This bunker initially reacted hostile to the team we sent to investigate it. And after deploying a battalion of star marines to clear the bunker, our scientists discovered it belonged to an ancient civilization from the primeval Era..."

The entire hall lit up in gasps, at leat by those in the know. The Primeval Era was one more of a fiction than actual history. Or so most scholars thought. It was believed to have been the era when the Elven Race was a singular species, and had yet to divide into Light Elves and Dark Elves. An Era of great prosperity, an era where the Elven Empire ruled over the overwhelming majority of the galaxy.

Naturally, both the Light Elves and Dark Elves knew this Era was true, as they both had powerful relics from their predecessors. But neither of them would admit to possessing these powerful and destructive devices.

Lunaria's eyes flickered with excitement and fear when she learned that the Germanic Star-Empire had excavated a bunker dating back to the Primeval Era, and was quick to ask the question she feared most.

"You don't mean to say that the civilization which that bunker belonged to was actually the-"

But before she could finish her sentence, Erich nodded his head with a stoic expression on his face, before confirming this to be true.

"The very same..."

The bunker was a weapons testing facility and contained the prototype for a stealth drone equipped with a weapon so powerful that it could render planets into dust... It took us years of study, but we managed to gain partial control of the drone, and used it to destroy the Queen Ship... Unfortunately, the drone was only partially completed, and destroyed itself in the attack...."

Lunaria was shocked by this revelation, as was the entire audience who witnessed it. But since the drone was destroyed, she did not need to make a move to secure it. Of course, there was another pressing matter which she was quick to ask about.

"And the bunker? What happened to it? Have you gained any data from its servers?"

Any attempts to recover how the drone was created have been met with utter failure as have all of our attempts to access the bunker's servers, as the bunker self destructed after we removed the drone from its housing..."

Lunaria sighed in relief when she heard this. After all, she could never allow another civilization to have access to a research facility once belonging to the mighty Elven Empire, whose power made the Alfheim dominion look like an infant child in comparison.

Though she attempted to detect any lies from Erich's mouth, Lunaria could not do so. After all, Erich was perhaps the only person in the galaxy who knew how to lie to the woman and get away with it. As was common among lovers who knew each other as well as they did in Erich's past life.

The truth of the matter was, this story was 100% fabricated by Erich to appease Lunaria, and the galactic community. Because the stealth drone they used to destroy the Naraku Queenship was not only intact, but was a prototype designed by Tia to combat the greater Naraku Threat when it invaded the Milky Way in the coming decades.

But nobody but Tia and Erich needed to know this information. Thus, after hearing Erich's story, Lunaria decided the Germanic Star-Empire was innocent of the charges she had laid against them in an act of fury. And declared them as such.

"Alright... Since this is the case, I see no reason to pursue justice against you or your people... You may have your sidearm back only after you tell me more about this bunker, come Marshal Jaeger! We have much to discuss in private..."

With this said, Erich bowed towards Lunaria and accepted her orders as he scurried off after her towards her private ship, where she could have a conversation with him without being monitored. Celestia, of course followed her mother, hoping to gain some insight on her ancient ancestors.

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