When I woke up Cai had news for me, he'd managed to calculate the direction that the Rif'nay'fex had come from and was able to firmly tell me that they had come from the direction of CG-08623. The planets they'd attacked in that direction were reached first while the ones on the opposite side of the galaxy had enough warning and preparation time to handily defend themselves without problem.

"How did they reach everywhere in the galaxy at nearly the same time?" I asked. None of our starships had the technology to move individually between galaxies or at the speeds needed to scatter within a few hours the way they did.

"Cursory examinations of their engine technology has marked them as having technology beyond us by an estimated five generations," Cai answered y question. "I have been attempting to determine if their current technology can be found or likened to what we have in the database from the obelisk, though I have not had much time to search."

"Thanks for looking anyway," I told him. "I'm not sure you'll find something, but it doesn't hurt to look for this kind of thing."

"Carrie and your squad also returned from aiding the planet's rescue and cleanup efforts some time ago," he said. "Additionally, you have been recieving messages from the still gathered diplomats, state heads, and envoys. They have all been demanding to speak with you and have requested meetings set for after you woke up."

"Dammit," I sighed. "Let's try to go answer some questions then. I'm not looking forward to this."

As I stepped out the door, I ran into Carrie. She was just coming back from a shower if the wet hair and towel were anything to go by.

"Touka asked Cai to tell us when you were awake," she said. "Figured you might want a report."

"If you can give me casualty numbers and projected damage, then that'll be fine," I told her as I stepped out into the hall and she began to follow me. "Also, I'm sure you've heard from Matt and Kyouka, how are they?"

"They're doing good," she said. "A little startled and worried for their kids, but they're with them now that what's left doesn't need a Horseman directing it all."

"Good, good," I said. "That's good to hear."

"It is," she agreed. "We pulled about seventy people out of rubble, most of them were alive, thankfully, and the ones that didn't make it were lost to bleeding out or being crushed. I think in total we've gotten almost sixty thousand out and we've recovered twenty thousand bodies across all sites."

"Shit," I swore. "Does it get better?"

"I don't think so," she said. "Touka and Cai were talking with some of the other Cybers, and they all agreed that we've probably got some bodies that we'll never find. They think they were vaporized by the blasts from whatever we were hit with."

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"And here I am worrying about what to tell the politicians that are going to spin this for bad PR in their favor," I said. "Are you okay, Carrie?"

"I'm fine," she said.

"No, Carrie," I stopped and turned to look at her. "Are you okay? I'm here if you need me."

"I-," she started before stopping and just gripping me in a hug. "I think I will be."

"Take all the time you need," I told her as I wrapped my arms around her and felt her begin to shake from crying. "All the time you need."

I walked into the room that the diplomats and politicians had gathered in and approached the stage.

"Thank you all for your patience," I said as I stepped onto the stage and approached the podium I'd be speaking at.

"As you all know, we were attacked by an unknown race. What you do not know, is that this race is known to the Nephilim. We thought they were dead and gone, and finding any remnant of them is unexpected and troubling. We know their name, we know their language, and we know that they are much more advanced than any race we've encountered. We do not know what their exact goals are, but we have determined where they came from. I will be leading a retaliatory fleet to either destroy them, or to force them to leave our worlds alone."

"I realize these are not the answers that any of you would have hoped for, but they are unfortunately all that I have at this moment. I can spare some time for questions now, though not much I'm afraid."

As they asked their questions and I struggled to answer them, Cai informed me that Chancellor Grandine and the Deva Collective's Heads of Commerce and Culture would be meeting me as I'd requested.

"What the hell is this about?" Grandine demanded while Snow nodded beside her in support. "A dead alien race is attacking us? What kind of bullshit do you think we'll all buy?"

"It is troubling that you admit to having prior knowledge of this, Demigod James," the Chief of Commerce said. "Where did you encounter them?"

"I am not here to be interrogated," I told them all. "I am here to ensure that you are all prepared. The Rif'nay'fex targeted all planets with a strong Human or Deva presence on them. Since these were also well protected, following their capture or participation in the war that just ended, damage was kept to a minimum, though several planets still need to be evacuated. Efforts to that end have already begun."

"And where do you propose they go?" the Chief of Culture asked. "Most of the Empire's planets are at maximum population levels and many of our own planets are as well. We don't have room."

"Then make room," I told him. "This isn't some press conference that you need to satisfy your voters on, this is a crisis that need immediate and firm action. I will be taking my own actions as Demigod of the Nephilim Army, you'll be taking actions as the Chiefs of Culture and Commerce. You were elected to your positions, act like it was for more than your own egos. As for you Chancellor, I don't care what you do. Send word that the people are our responsibility now or give us somewhere to put them, it doesn't matter, as long as they're taken care of."

"I can have some habitat stations fired up on the dead planets with good gravity," she said. "It'll take some time and some of them will need to be fixed up, but there should be enough room for all the people that need to be moved."

"Good, that'll help," I said. "Anything in particular that you'll need?"

As the meeting went on, I managed to help them all work out a better course of action for the people displaced from their homes and helped them avoid pitfalls that might have cropped up, like lack of food and housing. By the end of it a firm plan was in place for them to reliably move everyone that needed to be moved and the required repair work was marked out and would be occuring on a schedule in the future.

Now I needed to get ready for a new war. With the remnants of a dead race. Let's hope this one was a quick and easy one.