"Rickshaw, we are approaching the exit point," Cai told me as I went over the star charts and planetary maps of the galaxy we were entering. I'd never bothered with its name this whole time, just the Warden of Life designation of another galaxy lost to the Scourge.

"Good, that means we're close and soon enough we'll be able to get off this glorified space station," I muttered as I planned the first planets we'd go after. Sending ten small fleets under the command of Principalities to take twenty planets over the course of fifteen years was a little ambitious, but I was confident that we could take them. There were going to be some second-tier Scourge in this galaxy, but the next several wouldn't see third-tier for some time yet.

"Shall I inform Horseman Applewood that you would like her assistance?" he asked.

"No, she's probably in the middle of some training," I said. "Helping Sarah learn to use the Seraph or something."

"I converse often with Touka," he said. "She tells me now that Horseman Applewood is merely having a meal. Should you wish for her aid, then she would be happy to come and help you. Touka tells me she is bored."

"I'm not sure how I should feel about the fact that my Cyber can tell me where and what someone is doing at will," I said as I plotted the course I expected us to take in the new galaxy.

"Horseman Applewood uses this functionality all the time," said Cyber informed me. "She uses it to locate you extremely often for anything and everything."

"Of course she does," I sighed, shaking my head. "Whatever, I don't even remember what I wanted her input and help on."

"I believe it was on choosing Principalities to lead the expansion efforts in this galaxy," Cai supplied.

"Oh, that," I said. "Yeah send for her. I'm never going to make a decision on that."

"She is already on the way," Cai said. "I asked her to bring food for you, you have not eaten since your morning meal nearly thirteen hours ago."

"Why didn't you remind me?" I asked as I felt my stomach rumble at the idea of food.

"I did," he said. "Many times. Each time you said that you would eat when you finished your work."

"And I haven't finished my work," I sighed. "Thanks Cai. I should listen to you more often when you try to keep me on schedule."

"It is what I am here for," he assured me.

"Nah, Rickson isn't going to do good with the big picture stuff," Carrie said as she shot down my proposal for the last Pricipality. "He gets caught up in little details that don't matter. What about Ping? She's good at seeing the whole picture and she's a good idea for a Horseman Candidate. Pair her up with Rickson and they'll crush anything you give them."

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"Will they be able to stay on track?" I asked. "I remember when Ping was a Wing, she nearly got her whole Order killed because she kept pushing and pushing. You had to step in and pull her back so they could rest and resupply."

"That was before she was in charge of Dhamphir," Carrie waved my concern away. "She nearly failed there because she drove everyone too hard, but she figured it out and started paying attention to the smaller pieces. With Rickson keeping an eye on that and Ping planning for the big picture, they'll be able to wrap up an entire quarter of the galaxy without any issues."

"So you're telling me that together they make a good Horseman?" I asked.

"Kind of," she hedged.

"Then, why aren't we thinking of other people?" I asked.

"Because no one else is going to have half their drive," Carrie said. "Rickson looks at the little picture so hard because he can't see past what's in front of him. A little like you; he plans for the future and focuses on the now so that when the future gets to him he's ready for it. He's got his eye on overseeing a galaxy at minimum and he's working toward that; he's just still looking too narrow. Ping's a dreamer and she looks at the rewards at the end of the road and bulls her way toward them. She wants to oversee a galaxy the way Rickson does, but she's too distracted by the idea of whatever utopia she thinks she can build to worry about here and now. Together, reining each other in, they'll do great and they might teach each other a thing or two on the way."

"Fine," I relented. She hadn't gone to bat that hard for any of the others so she must really see something in these two. "That means that we've got all our Extermination Generals picked out. Now we need to plan for the first Planetary Leaders in this galaxy."

"Then I recommend Jarnson," Carrie said, pulling his file to replace the holograms of the chosen Extermination Generals.

"And you're sure that you want me under your direct command?" Sarah asked as I checked Carrie's armor and gear.

"I am," I told her. "You've done better than other Wings have and I'd like to spend the time on this planet evaluating you for Principality. Do well and you'll likely be in charge of a planet or a fleet."

"Cause that's no pressure on her," Carrie said as I patted her shoulder and turned around so she could check over my armor.

"Um, Demigod, sir, everyone knows that you and Carrie take on the most dangerous missions when you go planetside," Sarah said nervously. "I'm not sure I can keep up with you two."

"You'll do fine," I assured her as Carrie finished double-checking my gear. "You've mastered the Seraph beyond using it for orbital drops so that means that you'll be able to keep up when we chase after a Queen. If we didn't have them, then you'd be extra muscle to hold it down while someone else breaks the wings or kills it. That was always hard to do with one person."

"I'm still barely able to keep level with it," she argued. "No way I can keep up with you two using it."

"You'll do fine," I promised her. "Now turn around so one of us can double-check your gear."

Grumbling still, she did and Carrie moved forward to check her sister's gear, still unhappy that I'd argued for Sarah's promotion. I could understand her hesitation about having Sarah go with us for this Planetary Extermination, but it was still no excuse for her to try and hold her sister back from advancing as a Nephilim; she was already better than most of the newer Principalities when it came to leading her Order to victory.

"Rickshaw, I've determined the name of this galaxy," Cai told me.

"Well don't leave me in suspense," I told him as the bay doors opened and we began to make our orbital drops to remove the Scourge Horde with far too many flyers to safely land our shuttles.

"According to all data gathered by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and its couterparts, the galaxy you have gone to is the 'twin galaxy' to your Milky Way. They named it Andromeda."

"Kind of sucks that the Scourge came from here to Milky Way," I said. "Oh well, we came from the Milky Way to here so fair is fair."

"Indeed."

"Did Cai finally go through all the data and figure out what the galaxy's name is?" Carrie asked as we approached the open bay doors.

"We're officially in the Andromeda Galaxy," I told her as I led the way for us out of the bay and into the orbital jump on the first planet we would be taking back.