Ambassador Rachel stood before Empress Issan’Shiar III in total shock. The Empress cocked her head to the side. “I suppose I need to repeat myself, why did you not warn us of the Jennifer threat?”
Rachel frame jacked to think, how could she respond? How did she find out? Who could have told her? Best to try and smooth this out before wasting more cycles on who let the cat out of the bag. “Empress, it was decided that if you knew there was a genocidal race that could be sending fleets to your worlds it would incite panic upon the populous.”
The Empress raised an eyebrow, “It was decided was it? Who exactly decided my peoples fate from half way across the universe?”
Rachel cursed internally, no the Empress was no fool. “The Committee that rules the UTL voted on whether to inform you, it was decided that we would send fleets to aid in evacuation, but we would not incite panic or violence.”
The Empress stood from her throne, rage on her face. “Who gave you that right? The edges of the void are a month closer to us than you are. Your fleets would evacuate dead worlds and corpses!” The large Imperial Guards stepped forward as the Empress stepped down the three steps from the throne.
Rachel stood stark still, while she was in no real danger as she was billions of light years away in Terra Prime, she still felt a tinge of fear. “Empress, we do not believe the Jennifers have made the same improvements in skip drive technology, our Doctor Sebastian believes we will indeed beat the Jennifers to your systems.”
The Empress’ face darkened even more as she raised her voice, “You believe? You do not know? I see things differently Ambassador. I see someone who’s reputation would have been damaged if the information got out that you knew we were under threat and decided not to tell us. Did you think that your fleets would swoop in and save us all?”
Rachel stepped back as the Empress stepped forward and her Imperial Guard stepped with her, “Empress, the fleets will arrive on time, we will be able to evacuate some of your people.”
Empress Issan’Shiar III stopped, “Evacuate some of our people? Not all of my people? I have sat on this throne for 6 years now, and before that I was part of the Imperial court. In all that time I met many politicians, but I have never met anyone who would chance genocide rather than lose face. I have already started evacuating my people, and I will ensure we continue sending out ships until the very end.”
Then the Empress turned her back to Ambassador Rachel, “I now know far more than I did when your team first arrived. I know about your unification war, and these Jennifers are something you created, a scourge on this universe. I do not blame all Terrans for this, but you are no longer welcome in the Empire.”
With that, Nora stepped out from behind the throne. The Empress turned and sat down, “Nora, cut her cord.”
Nora nodded to the Empress and suddenly Rachel was back in her garden, the link to the first contact probe cut.
Ambassador Rachel looked around with rage in her eyes, “That Bitch!”
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Empress Issan’Shiar III looked over to Nora, “Was that broadcast to all of Terran space?”
Nora watched as the guards stepped back to their places in the royal hall, “Yes, Simon saw to it that it hit every server and nexus in the ‘verse. But make no mistake, Ambassador Rachel has her fingers in all aspects of Terran government, even though this government doesn’t hold much power, it does distribute currency. Sadly, with enough currency one can get plenty done.”
The Empress put her knuckles under her chin as she thought. “Won’t this broadcast cause her political damage?”
Nora nodded, “Oh, it definitely will, she may even be called to resign her place on the Committee, but she has plenty of cronies, and has the purse strings of the treasury.”
The Empress dropped her hand, “Has our little theatrics put you and Simon in danger Ambassador Nora?”
Nora sighed, “I can assure you I am no longer an Ambassador in the eyes of the UTL, not that they can do anything to remove me without the FC probe which I control. In real space, both Simon and I are moving our Soul Cores to a set of coordinates that Professor Montague has sent us.”
The Empress sat forward in the throne, “You believe she would attempt to apprehend or attack you in real space?”
Nora swallowed, “Professor Montague believes she will, when she arrives at each of our systems she will find nothing but wreckage.”
The Empress stared down at her lap, “Then by saving us, you have lost everything?”
Nora smiled sadly, “I lost things, I lost power collectors, servers, and coin. But I found Simon, and I could not continue existing if I did nothing.”
Empress Issan’Shiar III looked up at the ceiling of the royal chamber, her eyes glassy, “I owe you Nora, my people owe you. We owe the Professor, and we owe Simon. With his help the shipyards are building evacuation ships at a record rate. We owe General Paxton for his work with the evacuation fleets, do you know where we will go?”
Nora turned and looked at the immobile form of Ambassador Rachel, “According to the Professor they have been given coordinates inside Terran space that he states will be absolutely safe. When will you depart Empress?”
The Empress sighed, “I will stay until the last moment. It would not do for the Empress to flee and leave her subjects with no hope for our future.”
Nora turned back to the Empress, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
Issan perked up at this, “Yes, I believe there is something you can do for me.” She pointed to the body of Ambassador Rachel. “Dispose of that…. Thing.”
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Nora’s ship exited her skip at the coordinates. It was in deep space, no stars, no galaxies, just emptiness. She send a message to the Professor, he said that it would appear that the messages would not go through, but he would indeed receive them.
She didn’t get a reply, supposedly she didn’t have a connection to the internet either, but somehow she was still online, but it was as if she were a ghost. She had no idea how anyone could bypass internet security these days, even for Simon this was some wizardry.
Suddenly it seemed as though space itself split open for her ship. The rift seemed to lead into a pocket dimension, like dimensional storage, but this was big, very very big. Once her ship was through the rift it closed behind her and she looked at the marvel of what appeared to be a brilliant light coming from the center of a galaxy, but something was wrong, it was as if a nova was frozen in time.
Professor Montague messaged her. She reached up and tapped the envelope and the Professor appeared in a floating window in front of her. “Greetings Nora, welcome to null space. Here are the coordinates to dock, we look forward to seeing you after your ship is settled.”
Nora smiled at the Professor, “I’ll head there now, you said we, did Simon beat me here?”
Montague grinned, “That he did, but there is someone else you need to meet, the man behind all this. I’ll see you soon.”
After Nora docked her ship and attached to the hardline at the biggest shipyard she had ever seen she received an invitation from Simon. She joined the group and she was suddenly standing at front of the door to a rustic log cabin. Not knowing what to do she knocked.
Simon answered the door, “Thank god you made it! Come in, I think it’s time you met an old friend of mine and the Professor. Nora, this is Adam.”