Empress Issan’Shiar III left the throne after the new species, the Terrans departed. Ambassador Jah’Nea stood in her resting room with a note. He bowed formally and extended his hand with the note rolled into a scroll. “Empress, the secondary Ambassador Nora requested that I hand deliver this note to you in private away from the other members of the Terran group. It was checked by your head of security for any potential threats and has been considered a benign note printed from our own ship, the Unwavering Message.”
Issan’Shiar took the note and asked, “Quite odd, why would she send a note to me instead of through normal diplomatic channels?”
Ambassador Jah’Nea shrugged, “I could not fathom as to why she would do so myself, but these Terrans are very odd.”
The Empress unrolled the note and began reading, it was in ancient imperial, which meant it was doubtful her head of security or the Ambassador could read it if they wanted to. The further down she read the closer her eyebrows came to her forehead. She finished the note and let her hand drop to her side as she stared off.
Resolve appeared in her face as she focused, “Ambassador, I’m afraid I must send you on a task. Find Ambassador Nora and separate her from the other Terrans, bring her through the servants quarters to my library. I require a conversation with her in private.”
Ambassador Jah’Nea brought his hand to his secondary heart and turned on his heel to leave, an Imperial task was a great honor!
He found Nora with the Terran assembly having appetizers with members of the Parliament. As Ambassador Rachel was talking to the prime minister he whispered to Nora to follow him to the Empress.In only a few minutes they were in the Empress’ library. After showing Nora the entrance he closed the door and took his leave.
Empress Issan’Shiar III stood at a reading podium before an ancient text. As Nora walked towards her she started speaking, “The text you see before you is the single most important document in the Nal’Shiar Empire. This is the Articulus Emporium, and it laid the groundwork for the Imperial government that I now lead. If what you told me in your note is true, I may be the last Empress to look upon it.”
Nora stood across from her at the podium, “Everything from the note is true, and I expect to be ostracized and removed from my duties for delivering you this information.”
Issan looked to Nora, her violet eyes looked misty, “Why would your people not warn us, why would you risk your esteemed position for people you have never met?”
Nora sighed, “Terrans don’t have much for government, the UTL distributes the universal currency, and as such is the closest thing we have to a central government. They didn’t want to inform you of this threat because they think they can get assets here before any attack happens and defend you. However, some of the most clever people I know don’t believe this to be the case. The Jennifers were thought to be wiped out over a billion years ago, Ambassador Rachel made a name for herself by negotiating the peace accords bringing all humans together after the unification war. Having the Jennifers return to attack a new species could have political fallout for her, having deniability that she knew anything is in her best interest at the moment.
Issan nodded, “I’m well versed in political intrigue Ambassador, but you didn’t answer why you are defying her and putting your career on the line for my people.”
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Nora shrugged, “It’s simple, I couldn’t stomach the first new species we have come across being wiped out because some politician didn’t want her reputation tarnished.”
Issan closed the tome, “So it is as bad as that, we will get wiped out by these Jennifers?”
Nora looked down, “The Jennifers have well over a billion years of technological evolution over your Empire, they also have hundreds of galaxies worth of resources to pull from with a population estimated in the quintillions. My sources estimate that the scout fleet they will send to this part of the universe will dwarf your fleet by a millionfold.”
Issan’s shoulders dropped, “Then there is no hope, the Empire will fall?”
Nora shook her head, “No, this planet will fall, your colonies will fall, but if you begin evacuating now your people will survive.”
Issan took the book back to its case and gently placed it inside. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t evacuate every citizen of the Empire, there’s too many. Thirty billion in this system, ten billion in our colonies. At best, if I mobilized every ship I could evacuate maybe one percent.”
Nora walked over to her, “We both know one percent is better than nothing, and it is more than enough to keep your people alive. You must save who you can.”
The Empress stood up straight, “You’re right, it is my duty to save as many of my people as I can. I will call our Admiral after you take your leave and begin preparations for evacuations.”
Nora turned and walked to the door to the library, “I will leave you to it, I’ll head back to the party and say my goodbyes to my colleges. Once you begin your exodus, I doubt I will be welcome back.”
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Admiral Hunter stood on the bridge of the super dreadnaught Ulysses Prophecy as it screamed through space, skipping hundreds of times per second as it crossed the void towards Nal’Shiar space. He had lost thirty three ships in the past four days. They would make repairs and continue to the rendezvous location. He could not afford to stop, the General had informed him through tight beam that the Nal’Shiar exodus would meet them at those coordinates.
The new skip drives were fast, but that wasn’t the only reason for the upgrades. The new skip drives were capable of towing vessels as well, and his orders were not to engage, but to use his fleets to tow the fleeing Nal’Shiar back to Terran space.
Hunter jumped as he was pinged by General Paxton. He activated the tight beam connection and the General appeared in a floating monitor before him. “Good day General, what can I do for you today?”
General Paxton appeared to be sitting at a desk inside a war room, “Just getting my daily update, any more losses today?”
Hunter sighed, “We lost five ships today, we’re pushing the new skip drives pretty hard, but the losses are minuscule.”
Paxton nodded, “To be expected, keep them pushed, the sooner you get to those coordinates the better, we’ll be lucky to save one percent of their population as it is.
Admiral Hunter bristled, “I understand my orders, but it feels wrong not engaging the Jennifers.”
Paxton grunted, “I know Admiral, but we have no idea what these new Jennifers are capable of, and you’ll be outnumbered and far from any form of reinforcement. All models show your fleets would not make a difference against what they can send, your best action is saving who you can and to not engage in combat.”
Admiral Hunter nodded tightly, “Are you sure your contact got through to the Empress?”
Paxton looked to one of his monitors as he spoke, “Yes, I have confirmation that not only has the Empress received the message, she has sent most of the Imperial family away from the palace as of yesterday, presumably to the coordinates you are heading towards.”
Hunter grinned at this, “Very sneaky sir, I worried no one would be there when I reached the location. Good to know there will be people to save.”
General Paxton looked away from the screen and back to the Admiral, “We’ve been sneaky so far, but I expect this won’t stay secret long. I’m pretty sure the shit will hit the fan in the next few days, if I get canned and someone else sits behind my desk, ignore their orders, fulfill your mission Admiral, whatever it takes.”
Admiral Hunter saluted the General, “Yes sir!”
General Paxton saluted back, and shut off the feed.