As the interview came to a close, Edgemont was satisfied with the latest candidate for Sector Commander and silently triggered the offer which prompted the interviewer to pause in his closing statements. Edgemont noted the tic and made a note to send the interviewer for corrective training. It simply would not do to have such mistakes under his watch. Enough damage had been done by the previous Sector Commander that it would still be years before the sector recovered.
To his credit, the interviewer quickly recovered from his pause and moved into the offer process. The candidate, Alpho Nonetes, immediately began to negotiate for more than the initial offer and the dance began. Edgemont impassively watched the dance proceed, having already calculated the final terms, he was unsurprised by the conclusion. The offer was accepted and Edgemont triggered the relocation algorithm he had already crafted. The malleable enchantments in Aplho’s office had already started changing to the man’s recorded preferences. Surely, there would be some final adjustments to make but Edgemont had the full analysis of the man’s tastes to work from.
His musings were interrupted by a notification that flashed with particular urgency. He pulled it up and stared at it for a long moment before the ramifications began to process.
*** Your First and Thirty-second Clones have been slain. Due to the nature of their demise, none of their essence can be returned to you. ***
Edgemont did not change his outward appearance or actions as he shook the hand of the new Sector Commander, offering congratulations and assurances that he would do everything he could to support him in this new role. And, yes, he was looking forward to working for such a dynamic and intelligent leader. As they filtered out of the conference room, the next block of notifications stopped Edgemont in his tracks.
By the time he was done reading them all, he knew things had changed significantly. There had been an incident at the Contest. During the award ceremony of all things. This had been broadcast live over the interdimensional network. Every fully developed world on the network had been watching because he had made sure of it. The Syndicate’s sponsorship that he had engineered had been flawless. The focus of nearly a quintillion beings had been on that ceremony.
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And it was an absolute disaster. The victor of the Contest had lost it on stage and killed everyone in the stadium. There were over two hundred Syndicate executives in attendance, even some senior executives. And all of them had been killed. How had their security teams, their personal protections failed so horribly and so suddenly?
Edgemont, for the first time in centuries, didn’t know what to do. Sure, he had contingency plans for the loss of executives, even for an entire executive transport ship to be lost, but this was far worse. Nearly one hundred thousand important personnel had been lost in an instant. All at the hands of this…human? How could a single human have done this much damage?
Sitting in his office chair, Edgemont realized he had absolutely no memory of how he got back in his office but there he was. Shaking off the feeling, he delved into everything he knew about this human calling himself The Duke. He froze in horror as he realized that this was the same human that Ganorlen Vosh had foolishly pursued, attacking him and his allies repeatedly. Now, it seemed that the human had returned the favor with interest.
Further research showed that the human’s home, a backwater planet called Teldin by the natives, had been Vosh’s last play. He had summoned the Hounds, trying to collect a bounty that no longer existed. That wasn’t the planet where…oh no. I allowed them to release the hounds upon that planet.
The records on this Duke were not extensive but he clearly was someone who did not back down. The watchers left behind showed that Duke was responsible for the ultimate defeat and destruction of the Hounds sent after him. And now, the conflict had escalated to a level of damage that not even their strongest competitors could manage.
Two paths form here. Pursuit of revenge and continued escalation or reconciliation. Which to take? Only one will show our strength. We cannot appear weak after taking such a blow. I have some orders to send out.
Edgemont took one last check into the records to see who sponsored the terrorist. His face paled when he saw that it was the Overmind, and everything suddenly made a lot more sense. Of course he would hate us. We have been harvesting dungeon cores by the millions. But where else could we find such a perfect source for Mana Cores to power ships?
He took a last look at the files before he started to set the wheels in motion. So many competent leaders to replace. He was sure that this process would take years and would cut into the Syndicate’s profits for centuries to come. Decisive action was necessary. He would see to it.