We enter a briefing room where all the nobles sit awkwardly in the surprisingly cramped room. There is barely enough space to move past someone while they sit in their chair. I take my seat at the head and the Shipmaster sits next to me. Shariah is giving a presentation on the screen on the far side of the room from me. She explains some basics about human military culture and our various structures. Some nobles seem disturbed and the others have neutral expressions as far as I can tell. I can't read alien body language that well. When the explanation ends the floor is open to questions and a bird alien asks in a harsh voice,

"So... what you are saying is... your leadership can come from the peasantry...or even non-nobility?"

Shariah's brows furrow but I answer, my voice strong in the room,

"Yes. Our military structure in theory is built on a pure merit and capability method. Our officers are supposed to be formed from those of us who either show great leadership, a tactical mind, a strategic mind or have some other quality that is useful for the military to operate smoothly. I don't know how it works for your many species, but there is little in the way of genetic superiority.

While genetics do play a part in physical traits and in a few unfortunate cases the intelligence of a human, overall we are quite equal with only minor differences, advantages, and disadvantages. The quality or nobility of one's bloodline means nothing aside from the money or opportunities one can have. Historically we did have a noble or social rank-based command structure but we found that to be inefficient, especially when egos got in the way of victory."

The bird cocks their head and then asks again, harshly, which I am starting to understand is their normal tone,

"I see, so your kind has a long martial history. We have races in our kingdom who are much like that. It would make sense if your kinds bloodline doesn't grant absolute advantages then you would allow this to happen.

Tell me Shipmaster, were you of noble stock or a commoner?"

This throws me for a loop and I have to think for a second before I answer,

"That's a difficult question. My family did own lots of land and my father was a successful and rather wealthy man, but we only came to money later in my life... so I guess there was something you could call noble about what I come from, but our country doesn't have true nobles, but there are people who do fulfill the role. Dr.Kelly is from a group that would be considered noble as her mother was the planetary governor."

The bird seemingly raises their brow feathers in interest and behind those predatory eyes, I can see a shift in perspective. I don't know if I fucked up, but it's the truth and it's probably better that I keep this whole meeting truthful. I do note none of the nobles around look at me disdainfully, instead, they seem... hesitant about me. I guess this whole tour and explanation has shifted some perspectives. I peek over at the Shipmaster who appears to be concentrating and making a face toward the others. I access the ships internal sensors through my neural link and find a very weak stream of radiation linking the nobles, or that's what the visuals look like. It's luckily only about as strong as a microwave, but probably dangerous. For now, it's contained so I won't complain. I do send a note to Shariah telling her not to walk between any of the aliens for this reason. I don't know their magic or whatever, but I can tell when people are communicating through neural links silently, and this looks just like that.

The Shipmaster then clears his throat and stands up, his big belly shifting the table. He apologizes and then says directed toward me,

"Our local nobility has decided it is of utmost importance that Shipmaster Commodore here should be properly rewarded for his actions against the rebel forces. As he has inflicted the greatest harm against them ever recorded in such a short time. This is a gesture of goodwill... so that we may..."

He pauses and locks eyes with me with a knowing look before continuing,

"so that we may continue a positive relationship."

Now knowing the actual goals of the Eternal Kingdom this is most likely going to be some rewards or something so that I don't take great offense when the actual question is popped. I stay silent and nod for him to continue. I do take note the strange woman he was guiding around is now staring at me with what I guess to be an expression of horror and intrigue. The Shipmaster then continues,

"The best of the spoils of this battle shall be yours. Due to the nature of your kind most of the actual spoils would be useless to you so we will give you an equivalent in precious metals or other materials your... scientists... request since they appear interested. This is equal to four royal boons of gold in value."

I don't know what that converts to, but the bowed heads of some of the nobles let me know that it is a huge quantity of money. I nod in acceptance and the Shipmaster continues,

"The next boon is more personal out of respect for the Shipmaster and his combat capabilities. I grant here the daughter of the arch-traitor, the Ex-Archduke Philleanous Contall Hektos the destroyer of unity, to be the personal slave for our most respected and esteemed Shipmaster Commodore."

I raise an eyebrow but Shariah reacts verbally,

"What the hell, a slave?"

This takes the Shipmaster aback and he then says to her confused,

"Yes? I mean it's only part of the deal. The conquered belong to the conquerer and since the Shipmaster Commodore slew the arch-traitor I believe the family of such a villain should belong to the vanquisher. This girl while not very capable of physical labor does seem to match your race biology and what I assume is your beauty standards. I also will note she has remained pure while in our custody. A rather rare and high-quality slave."

Shariah is flabbergasted and sputters a few times as her face slowly turns red. She then says harshly,

"Slaves... are no good. Slavery is a wicked practice."

The nobles stare at her with a look of confusion but I remain calm. I somewhat expected this after seeing the girl. I know the kingdom keeps slaves, that much was clear and slaves are not people, they are property. Therefore they can be given freely by the owner. I then loudly clear my throat, strangely I am the level-headed one and say,

"Thank you Shipmaster I will accept the gift as it would be rude to do otherwise."

Shariah damn near shreiks at me,

"What the hell is wrong with you Commodore? What about the..."

I hold up a hand to stop her and then explain to the group,

"Our friendly host the Diplo-Colonel here is rather upset about the practice of slavery for good reason. I will explain this now and what will happen with your gift."

The Shipmaster sits down hesitantly and I start,

"Our nation has outlawed slavery for the century we have been reborn. Our nation, the United States of America exists as an antithesis to slavery. We are a society where every man and woman can pursue their own destinies, for better or worse, due to this defining philosophy slavery is one of the major things outlawed in our society.

Some say it is for moral reasons, which is fair since many of our individual races have been held as slaves in their history. There is religious reasons for it as well as ownership of another person spits in the face of the many depictions of God in our cultures. Since we do not share a religion I will not use this to explain this.

The logical reason is a mix of two things. One, if we are a society of free and equal people, regardless of birth, then it would mean holding slaves would be hypocritical of us and therefore illogical and wrong in that sense. The second is the inefficiency of slavery. In simple terms, slaves do not innovate, expand, or participate in economies or society. As a people dedicated to expansion and innovation holding slaves would hinder this and we absolutely cannot stand stagnation.

I understand you may not understand but I just want you to know why what is about to happen will.

Due to the relation of this woman and your nation, I will not simply free her and let her loose. No, I will emancipate her as is my right as her new owner. From there I plan to grant her the rare right of foreign auxiliary where she will serve upon this ship until she can be properly made into a citizen of the United States as we cannot do that here so far from our home. She will be investigated for any actions committed during her life we consider dire and she will face justice and punishment as is necessary under the codes of international laws we follow."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I finish and the nobles and the Shipmaster seem to discuss among themselves silently before the Shipmaster tells me,

"She is yours, that is your call. I apologize for any offense this may have caused."

I respond,

"It is your customs. Even if we do not share a moral compass, I cannot be offended when prior to my explanation you were not knowledgeable."

He considers this for a second before nodding and quickly the group of nobles excuses themselves and Shariah goes to escort them back home. I catch her as she is leaving and I tell her,

"We will deal with this later. For diplomatic reasons, we will accept it as is right now. I will manage this girl and make sure she is treated well and safely."

She nods, steeling herself and returning to her fake diplomatic happy demeanor. Then I am alone with the slave woman who stands in the corner observing me. I turn to face her and ask,

"Please miss, sit down. I wish to discuss things with you."

She does as told quickly, sitting far from me as I lock eyes with her. I then start,

"Are you hungry or thirsty?"

She thinks for a moment before spitting back, her voice soft and melodic,

"Yes. Those royalists don't seem to enjoy feeding those they own. Something about control."

I nod and send a note to the galley to bring me a rather simple meal based on our scientist's observations on the diets of the different species. Just to be sure I ask her,

"Do you have any restrictions on what you can eat?"

She tilts her head side to side and she responds,

"Not much. We can eat just about anything but our diets are majority savory vegetables and too much meat can cause digestive issues."

I nod and complete my order, deciding not to have anything spicy come up, and luckily todays supper was going to be creamy chicken and rice which should be neutral enough. I try not to stare at her but in my glances, I do take note of how she looks. Definitely elven in looks, with a slender frame like a non-modified Olympic distance runner, and some long freaking ears. She looks mostly human, or human-like. I guess her nose is slightly more pointed than normal and shaped like a cutting edge on a knife. Her eyes are strange, somewhat too large for her head but with no sclera, the irises fill her entire eye but they are smooth, none of the wrinkles and patterns that are normal on human irises. The pupil is normal, which makes sense because it's just a hole into the head. Her skin is what I would call deliciously golden, but like I noticed before she has tiger stripes that look like dark bruises on her skin but their pattern makes it seem like she is actually striped not abused. Her sleeves are short so I can see more than just her face has them so I assume she is covered in them.

The food arrives and the entire time she stares at me with various expressions on her face. The food is set before her alongside some water to drink. She seems confused by the spork. The galley worker also brought me food too, I thank him and send an order to the kitchen officer to grant him an extra cookie or whatever is for dessert as a reward, because he isn't a waiter or servant.

I pick up my spork and take a bite before smiling at her. She then asks carefully,

"What is this?"

I respond after swallowing,

"A boiled grain with bird meat and the lactate from a large land animal... with some seasonings."

She nods and then asks,

"Is this what your No... Your leaders eat? Why offer it to me, a slave? What is your angle?"

I respond flatly after another bite,

"My angle is that I am hungry and so are you. We do not have separate meals for officers or enlisted in the navy, that would waste too much precious space. This means from the highest to the lowest we get the same slop. "

Its the truth, but I've gotten out of navy galley fare by going to the civilian vessel for their meals... which is admittedly unfair but nothing beats creamy chicken and rice sometimes.

The woman takes a hesitant bite, nods in enjoyment and I notice her ears perk up slightly like a dog or something. She eats with dignity after understanding the versatility of the spork, Gods intended and most perfect utensil. We eat in silence for a while and when finished she says to me,

"Thank you for the meal, but do not think I will be your plaything..."

This causes my brain to lag for a second as I come to terms with what she said and through a laugh ask,

"What the hell? Where did that come from?"

She stares at me blankly and responds,

"Don't think I am fooled by your incredibly... nice-sounding explanation. No society ever conceived has ever changed to become that way. You are a conquerer beyond all comprehension, you vanquished not only my father but decimated an army. No one like you would ever be so pure as not to have a harem of women, slaves or not. I will not be a willing participant in that."

I laugh awkwardly and respond,

"Uhhhhh, no. I have no harem, hell I have trouble getting a second date...errr... getting a girl to see me a second time."

She laughs incredulously shakes her head and asks in a near-joking manner,

"And so you are just taking me onboard for the laughs?"

I shake my head and with a long sigh I tell her,

"No. Our nation, the United States of America has existed twice. One time, it was in our homeworld, and then, after the fall of the Federalized United Nations, known as the United Nations Central Authority which is the one now. My nation exists in spite of slavery and tyranny. We wish to make all men free, which some would argue would include races and species that are not human.

Simply put our goal is to help guide all we meet to emancipate their slaves and toss out their old ways. If that doesn't work then there may be conflict, but that's what we wish to avoid."

This causes the woman to cackle loudly with hysteric laughter and through the harsh laughter she explains,

"Guide the Eternal Kingdom? Are you stupid? That's not how they work! Hell, this little diplomatic dance they've been doing with your kind is nothing but a reaction to your novelty. The Eternal Kingdom does not change, that is in the name. They do not work alongside others, they consume and assimilate them into their culture. They only want to study you all so that they may take what they want from you before completely destroying your culture, government, and history.

They can outproduce everyone, as they control the entirety of all foundries in existence, and judging by the size of your ships, they far out scale yours by many times! They can produce hundreds of magical weapons and mages in the time it would take for you to make one. You may have been able to beat my father and his men in a devastating battle but how many times can you cast those spells? A dozen? That's a laughable amount when they have a standing army of one hundred thousand mages, more powerful than those you slew, and they can levy over a million non-military mages in an instant. How will you face that? You will be conquered, so it's better to fall in line, your position will allow you to reap all the rewards."

I lean forward and then interface with the screen on the far wall from me. I motion toward the screen and in surprise, the woman looks up at the screen as it flickers to life. She starts to talk about it but I fold my hands and rest my chin on my knuckles, my elbows on the table and I say in a flat and stern tone,

"There is no magic. I have none, this ship was produced without it, that screen has not a drop of magic, and before coming here I'd never heard of it.

Do not impose your world-views and knowledge onto me, onto us. I do not follow your rules, nor do I follow the rules of the Eternal Kingdom, even things they declare absolute truths. The attacks you saw were not uncommon pieces of weaponry for us, in fact, they are considered the standard issue when it comes to dealing with infantry. They are produced in millions during wartime.

They are not even considered top-of-the-line or overly destructive. In my report on the slaughter of that entire group, including your father I considered a low-casualty event—the bare minimum of enemy casualties in order to force a retreat.

My entire time here, as I've begun understanding the Eternal Kingdom, and all the peoples inside is that we, humanity are the antithesis of everything you know. "

I motion to the screen as it pulls up a detailed external scan of the Shipmaster's vessel. The woman's eyes go wide at the extreme detail of the vessel. I then have an external view of the Catfish appear next to it. I then continue,

"This ship you are on, the USS Catfish is a large cruiser class. It is not equipped as a ship-to-ship slugger, it is effectively just a mobile command center with just enough firepower to not be defenseless. This vessel is considered to be out of date if not for recent retrofits, in the entire time this model of ship was produced there were three hundred built, and only twenty remain as the rest were scrapped or lost in combat."

I then have a light battleship appear, a 1 km long vessel of the same class as the USS Starwish, one of my first postings. I then continue,

"This is a light battleship. They are the smallest vessels with the classification of "planet breakers" meaning they have enough firepower to glass an entire world leaving it uninhabitable. This model of the ship was designed to work outside of fleet operations, existing to work as a solo hunter-killer designed to destroy targets of opportunity or to preform surgical strategic orbital bombardment. Over eight hundred were made in its run being updated with new technologies every three years. One hundred remain but are considered out of date and are being phased out and scrapped."

She tries to speak again but I stop her by pulling up the image of a heavy dreadnaught, a 3 KM long ship designed entirely to end worlds. It is still dwarfed by the Kingdoms ship, mostly in girth but the length is getting there. I then continue,

"This is a heavy dreadnaught, a ship made to destroy worlds. Cracking the earth and boiling away all the seas. It can absolutely devastate any ship it faces but that would be a waste of its talents. This class of ship was produced twenty times in under five years during our most recent war. All are still in service but due to new technologies they are being updated to become even more potent at their most horrible task."

She doesn't even try to talk as a Freedom-Class supercarrier appears next to the royal ship. At 6 KM long it is much longer than the huge castle-like vessel, but is much skinnier as it is shaped like a giant triangle. Capable of carrying smaller capital ships, swarms of drones so thick you cannot see the stars, and hundreds of manned fighters this class of ship is old, but remains the central component to the US Naval doctrine as flagships. I then explain,

"This is a Freedom-class supercarrier. These ships work as our flagships and as the pinnacle of our navy. They are the oldest still serving ships in our navy for good reason as none have yet to be destroyed or really challenged. They can be used as an entire fleet themselves and easily can devastate planets down to ash and fire. We also have thirty of them across our entire navy. "

To push my point further the screen zooms out and an example of every class of capital vessel still in service appears on the screen scaled to the central Kingdom ship. Their numeric system is used to show the numbers of each of the vessels that are still in service. This shows thousands of vessels in our navy and her mouth goes slack and she stares in horror at the sheer size of the US navy. I then say,

"I do not want war, I in fact want peaceful coexistence, but don't think for a second that our freedom will ever be trampled on. I do not fear the Eternal Kingdom...

They should fear me..."