When Aziz woke, existence was pain; the room was vividly bright, his arms and legs felt as if they were on fire; his mouth was dry, his throat sounded as if he had gargled sand... and he was simply lying, naked, on a cold metal surgical table.

He could move his eyes, barely. Look around the room; see that there was a table beside his bed, one with various bottles of chemicals on it; had he been drugged? Why did his arms and legs hurt so much? Where was he?

Everything was metal. Shiny, bright, immaculate; no signs on the walls, a simple florescent light fixture above him, pointed directly at him... he couldn't see the door.

After a few minutes of lying there helpless, he heard a soft 'hiss' sound. A tall, slender machine, its humanoid limbs just centimeters across, made of a dark red metal, entered the room; a box-like head turning down to face Aziz. "Hello, human. You are currently in a Penal facility operated by the SRE. There are no minds within range for you to control. Your body is under my absolute control, and you are being taken to join a variety of Pale Ones currently working out prison sentences in labor. To ensure you cannot control your fellow inmates, you will be held isolated and outside of effective range of your observed abilities."

Aziz stared at the machine. Ascension. There was no soviet logo... but this had to be one of those communist robots. He'd heard of the SRE machines, but... they didn't quite look like this. He tried to speak; a garbled mess emerged, and his throat hurt even worse. "There is no need to answer questions. You have been speaking for over twenty hours straight at this point under the influence of various medications. I have allowed you to awaken so that you can be informed of the nature and duration of your sentence before it begins. Within territory administered by the SRE, pre-meditated murder carries a minimum sentence of twenty years of hard labor, with a psychological exam conducted at the end of the sentence to determine sentencing from there. Based on your provided testimony, your psychological exam will occur in roughly twenty-eight thousand six hundred and twenty years."

At first, Aziz didn't really understand what the machine had said. Twenty hours? It... it had drugged him, questioned him for quite some time... and then decided he had killed people? He made another rasping attempt to speak. Tried to reach out with his powers; only to find... nothing there. Nothing to influence, or speak to.

His body rose of its own volition, and his mouth clamped shut on its own as he started putting on.. a suit. A diving suit. Where would he be working? What was going on?

As the door opened, and then slid shut behind him, the room started to fill with water. Everything was... cold. Dark. While the suit had a faceplate, he could see nothing at all... even as the door opened, and he emerged onto... a chill, rocky surface. As his body started marching out into the darkness, he tried to struggle. Tried to scream. Nothing emerged. Years ago, he had paid a healer metahuman a substantial amount of money to cure his lung cancer, and give him a long, healthy life.

He had been promised that, if he were careful, and didn't start smoking again, or anything equally foolish, he could live a few hundred years. This... He hoped the man was wrong.

***

Almasi leaned back on his newly built throne in a simple robe of white, smiling at the room; only a few days of work, and already it looked.. properly royal. The walls were hung with surviving decorations from his old palace, as well as a few new ones. The floor was actually reinforced; if he were ever foolish enough to grab a chunk of Neutronium again, it would undergo a series of collapses over the next thirty seconds before finally failing; giving him time to let go.

Khan was at the door, his usual shining obsidian form dwarfing the nearby guards, talking to a pair of them; but Almasi was more focused on the display in the center of the room. It showed the borders of Brazil, the position of the Dreadnaught; and the plans to support the South American Caliphate forces that were preparing to invade. The enemy clearly knew they couldn't face the massive machine.

As Khan stepped closer, Almasi frowned; the man gave a short bow, and he waved it away. "I've said it a dozen times, my friend. You never need to bow or salute me again. What is it, Khan?"

"...We have an incoming call from La Famiglia. He asked to speak to you personally; it's the Engineer, the gentleman running Eye-Tech while Eyeball is off on his little hunting expedition in space. Normally, we would simply advise him you were too busy, but he claims it's important for the war, if we don't want to end up fighting the United States and La Famiglia."

Almasi frowned. He'd run the numbers. After the civil war in China had started up, the Diamond Kingdom was now, likely, the most powerful nation on earth; thanks in large part to the Dreadnaught... the Emperor of Iron's parting gift to his people. But... that didn't mean he wanted to go to war with everyone.... just yet. "...Fine. Voice call?"

"He's got his own projector, if you want to do a video call, sir, but we can take it as just voice."

He gestured; and the map vanished. "Bring him on."

After a few moments, the bald, pale form of the Engineer, with his obvious, massive, cybernetics for eyes, appeared. He'd seen the man's face before; but hadn't had call to speak with him. "So. To what do I owe this pleasure...Engineer?"

It was a bit awkward to call someone by such a title.

The emerging voice was.. cold. Calm. Not quite mechanical, but... somehow just sounded right coming from a cyborg. "La Famiglia has recently come into possession of a prisoner who has violated the laws of quite a few nations, as well as our own. The SRE has been allowed to handle this, and the criminal is currently undergoing a life's sentence at hard labor, but after reviewing his intake interrogation, I'm arranging calls with his victims to arrange whatever recompense and assistance I can."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Almasi blinked. This... wasn't at all how he expected this call to go. "Ahh. I assume some of his victims live in the Diamond Kingdom, and you wish to arrange to speak with them?"

"That is exactly what I am doing now, yes. If you would care to bring Khan Obsidian on the line as well, then I will be speaking with two of his victims at once."

Khan glanced up at his King; who made a gesture, and the pair stood together, facing the screen. "You're saying that myself and my Master of Arms are the victims?"

The Engineer looked between the two of them. "A metahuman telepath known as Aziz acquired and further developed a technology using both wired and a laser scanning system to assist in the reading and reprogramming of minds, allowing him to read people at a distance and when they believed they were protected. He utilized this to manipulate Khan, and once he secured the man's friendship, attempted to use him to assassinate you; first, via the gift of neutronium, then simply finding you and being ready when you arrived at the surface; he attempted to compel Khan to kill you at that point, but the man resisted."

He glanced at Khan. "Khan had not yet been sufficiently controlled at this stage, however, and resisted the command. As such, Aziz used his powers to begin influencing both of you, with the ultimate goal of enlisting your aid in establishing a global caliphate. You are two out of hundreds of individuals he manipulated for this process, including South American leaders, United States presidential candidates, senior Japanese officials, Australian officials, and numerous others. His ultimate plan was to allow the Japanese and any other problematic groups to flee the planet while turning the rest of it into a single state beneath his command."

Almasi stared at the man. Thinking back to his interactions with Aziz. Yes, he was a telepath. But... he trusted the man. He could've killed Almasi there, when he was climbing back out... right? He glanced at Khan; who frowned. "I... I do believe Aziz has the best interests of Anzania at heart. But... he did want me to kill you, and take over. I refused, of course."

This... He struggled to reconcile the image of his friend, Aziz, trying to have him killed. That wasn't possible! He'd known Aziz for years, the man had always been a friend of his. Why, he'd first met him... When did he first meet him? He could have sworn they were old friends.

Almasi and Khan just stared at each other for the moment. What the Engineer was saying was... it sounded plausible, but it couldn't be.

"I will forward you some of the interrogation video if you would like. The interrogation lasted twenty-one hours, and roughly seventeen minutes of it was related to you. I would strongly advise you increase protection around your senior officers, especially on the Dreadnaught; Aziz has lesser telepaths working for him in the Caliphate forces in South America, and indicated he planned to indoctrinate as much of your leadership as he could."

"...I would appreciate that video, yes." Almasi turned to Khan. "I.... have all Caliphate personnel removed from the Dreadnaught, and have it recalled. We.... we need to have a meeting with the council."

***

As the Emperor swept into the 'Kleekh' system; the Imperial term for 'Distant Sight'; he studied the system itself from the periphery, beyond the range of its sensors. The sole habitable world had billions of the crab-like inhabitants swarming its mostly waterborne surface. A few dozen space stations; mostly there to siphon raw materials from the gas giant, study the star itself... and of course, a series of telescopes and scanners aimed into the Forbidden Zone.

He floated in closer to the system, letting them spot him as he headed towards the primary station; and was almost immediately contacted with an emergency alert.

He settled in to a stop, expecting, likely, something else about the Forbidden Zone, and sent a gentle push of acknowledgement to the station as he planned out an expedition to 'Earth', and just what it would need.

He was shocked at the message he received; an image of a pitiful snail-like creature called a 'Leesh' on a communicator; followed by an image of a dying world in real-time; visibly shifting from blues and greens to browns and greys. ~Lord Emperor! An entity claiming to be the 'Empress' has emerged, consumed all life on the world meant for your consumption, and then departed, claiming to be heading for the Capital; that she would consume it to, and, if she encountered the Emperor, she would do the same to him! We provide full scan data on the events.~

What sounded preposterous; even absurd; was shown to be almost certainly correct. The ship was definitely the one from the Avris system; and the woman from the images was even one that had been witnessed moving around the station itself, surrounded by an escort. Whoever had killed Cronos on earth must have been someone like himself; able to drain the life from others. And, irritated by the Jotun, wiped out their invasion force... and then moved out into the galaxy at large to assert herself and challenge him.

The Emperor studied the data for a moment. She.... was slower than him at it. In a battle between two Rikk, the stronger always won unless he had been knocked out first; he could, quite simply, drain the enemy faster, and would inevitably win. So. She must be weaker than himself.

It was a risk; it was impossible to truly know the capabilities of some unknown alien, even if he could make assumptions from observation. But... it was far more of a risk if he allowed her to consume a world that had hundreds of billions of citizens. He'd had over fifteen percent of his current strength after eating his first billion, and over thirty percent after his first hundred billion. Every world he ate gave him less; so if she were to wander the Imperial heartland for a year or two, she might actually grow strong enough to challenge him.

He tapped into the relay. It would take him... a little over two days to reach the Capital. At their speed, they might beat him there. There were... seven fleets closer than he was at relays. He tapped in, targeting those relays.

~This is your Emperor. An unknown alien entity, seeming to be a lesser version of myself, is rapidly approaching the Capital, estimated to be on the course to follow, riding in an exceedingly durable, dangerous ship. Converge on the Capital and prevent her from reaching the surface at all costs; she will wipe out all life if she reaches it. All standard doctrine of hit and run delaying tactics at extreme range and preservation of ships for the long-term are to be discarded; if you have anything that can slow her down, use it, even if it is only the bodies of your crew and the hulls of your ships. All civilian and non-Imperial vessels are to be commandeered for the same purpose; but any Imperial ship captain that holds himself back will suffer the complete eradication of his genetic line. I will be there to kill her; but if she kills the Capital before my arrival, my wrath upon those who did not give their all will be beyond anything you have witnessed or imagined.~