“I already respawned three times. It wasn’t pleasant, but better than being dead I suppose.”

-Prip

***Outer Rim***

***Antioch***

I allow myself to fall into my comfortable office chair and place both feet on the edge of the sickle-shaped desk. The metal desk is made from pure platinum, just to show that the king of Demons has wealth to throw out the window. Though I guess that Haven was bound to have plenty of leftover materials after stripping an entire solar system. After a few moments of relaxation, I finally feel like I am able to forget about Jill’s latest shenanigan. Whenever she is involved, the people around her experience the heights and depths of human emotions.

I was absolutely smitten by the fact that Veronica didn’t betray us, and that she even managed to wizard that stupefied expression onto Ouluk’s face. I felt like this was the best day of my life. Honestly, I am not even sure if I want to remember Ouluk any other way. That scene when he realized the truth and the depth of Vizir’s betrayal, it was hilarious.

Maybe I should just stay away from him to make sure that I don’t remember him any other way.

I sigh as my memories continue on to what happened next. Jill just had to drag that boy into the room. The whole mood was gone!

Shaking my head in dismay, I call up the latest reports directly from the war zone. Somehow I have to get my mind off to other things.

Several updates flash through my mind’s eye and I choose the one which looks the most interesting.

It appears that the Prip homeworld is still holding out, but the colony worlds are all gone, destroyed either by the G.S. or by the Cyber.

The Cyber managed to force the G.S. back to the world which they use as their main base. Given the amount of industry, equipment, and ships, the place is close to an impregnable fortress. Both sides fought to a standstill and now a large part of the Cyber’s forces is bound by the conflict.

Apparently, the G.S. has some sort of nano-tech weapon which affects the Cyber pretty badly. Our scouts reported it as some sort of silvery goo which spreads across any ship that gets hit. The real issue is that the nano-particles can ride on the electromagnetic field of a standard plasma weapon.

The Cyber, in turn, managed to establish three wormholes in close proximity to the last G.S. system. That ensures them a steady flow of reinforcements. As of yet, they weren’t able to break the sphere of defensive installations around the G.S. system.

I quickly check the progress of our subterranean building projects on the Prip homeworld and compare them to our own time plan. If everything works out, we should be able to transform the piece of rock into a second Haven within a few months. It will be a quick and dirty job, but if we supply them with the large warp-emitters, they can concentrate on infrastructure.

Their only real problem is that they can’t build anything above ground without getting a large rock thrown onto their heads.

Interstellar war is a truly boring task, now that I get to experience it for myself. There are short periods of total carnage, and then there are years and decades of waiting and rebuilding in between. I just hope that we made the right call when we forced the conflict between the G.S. and the Cyber.

We threw away a lot of our old ships, but that also gave us time to rebuild our fleet up to the newest specifications. The outcome I hope for is that the growth of Cyber and G.S. forces was severely hampered by their continued conflict.

Now we can scoop in and batter their weakened fleets, hopefully taking complete control of everything within a hundred lightyears.

I am not kidding myself. Winning this encounter would only mean that we managed to secure a first real outpost in an intergalactic conflict which might span over centuries and involve the entire galaxy. The Cyber are a few decades ahead of us and probably have hidden pockets of their population all over the galaxy, while the G.S. controls the core systems, the densest starcluster with the highest population and almost endless resources.

We will be grey, old, and tired before any of this ends.

We also have to hope that none of our adversaries have additional forces in immediate striking range. The Cyber’s wormhole technology worries me greatly in that regard. If they are capable of calling in reinforcements from other groups, then we are fucked. It all depends on the range of those wormholes and how hard they are to create. Our scientists are trying to duplicate the method, but it’s slow going.

Even if we win the day and get control over this sector, it would mean that we have to create a little empire out here, slowly incorporating system after system as we wait for the next conflict. The Cyber won’t take it kindly if we wipe out one of their colonies, and the G.S. will start another crusade.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Though, it would give me and those close to me time to relax. A few decades without interruption might be enough to build a growing society which is able to gain control of the entire galaxy.

My thoughts are interrupted when Veronica walks past my office, dragging the dazed boy from before with her. It seems like they are headed for the family’s living quarters.

“Veronica? What’s going on?” I call out, curiosity taking the better of me.

V returns and looks into my office without leaving the corridor. “I am just taking Joan into the living room. I think Mom has some first-aid wound spray packed away there, though I don’t understand why someone would store that stuff in the living room.”

Ah, that’s for when Lisandra and I get a little rough while using the new sofa. I clear my throat. “I am sure she has her reasons.”

“Where am I?” Joan looks around with a confused expression, pressing his palm onto the bleeding head wound. I wince in sympathy. He is still young, so he probably doesn’t have most of the combat upgrades which would stop the bleeding and patch the wound within a few minutes.

Out here on Haven, he also never got the chance to gather a shitload of skillpoints in battle. If Jill told the truth and he is a natural, he might not even know what to do with a woman. I purse my lips in thought. It depends on how sheltered Julie and her sisters brought him up.

“It’s okay, just keep your hand on that wound, or you will bleed all over the floor.” V returns her attention to me. “Silith is still sorting out Jill’s mess, so I went ahead to take care of Joan’s injury. Everyone else is too occupied with complaining about Jill. Could you please tell them that we are in the living room? It seemed like it would take a little while, but they have to realize that we are gone at some point.”

“Sure, sure.” I wave her on. “Make sure to make good use of the sofa.”

She looks at me in confusion until she finally gets the hint, having caught Lisandra and me with our little toy. V gasps in exasperation and pulls Joan with her. “I would never take advantage of someone who is confused and not in full possession of his mental faculties.”

“But that’s the only way you will ever find a guy,” I mumble. “Anyone who uses his brain for just a second will run for the horizon once they realize that Jill and you are a package deal.”

There is no reply to my comment, and so I am left once again without entertainment. After a little thinking, I access the network and line up a direct call to John, the leader of the Lifer faction within the V.C.

My call is answered almost immediately. ‘Yes?’

‘Hi, I was just curious about your progress with the Prip. You’ve been very silent about their integration into the system.’ I get directly to the point since I am not the type for small talk.

‘The vast majority of them are sticking to their private server in their base form. There are some of the adventurous types who are exploring the V.C. with their avatars, but most of their population is trying to pretend that their world was never destroyed and that everything was a bad dream,’ John informs me. ‘Our psycho-analysts think its a racial trauma and that it will take a lot of time for them to get over it. I am paying their Prime Minister regular visits, just to remind him that their new world isn’t real.’

I nod. ‘So you really put them on an isolated server with an empty galaxy for them to explore? I find it strange that someone could overlook the experience of seeing his world destroyed. Aren’t they angry at the G.S.? I know that I would be. I would do everything to get back at those who destroyed everything I held dear.’

‘Yeah, the issue is that the nano-plague worked too well. From their point of view, they had a bad dream and woke up in the world they were used to. Most of them didn’t even change their appearance. Since the plague automatically infected and uploaded their whole civilisation the same moment we delivered the pearl to them, they haven’t lost that much. There are a few losses from before, but as a whole, their population seems satisfied with keeping to themselves. As twisted as it sounds, maybe we should make the uploading process somewhat less perfect. For example, have them lose every tenth person,’ John suggests.

I shake my head and pull down the corners of my mouth. ‘I thought that we have more than enough computing capacity to give everyone his own galaxy. Why not let them get used to their world. You could open portals to other game-worlds, and in time, they will get used to the idea that they are now part of something much bigger. At the moment, we don’t need their personalities for the war.’

‘No, but at our rate of expansion we will always require fully developed personalities, even if we take our time and spend two thousand years on taking over the galaxy,’ John muses. ‘But you are right, we don’t need them right away and it would be unpleasant if they found out that we trimmed the effectiveness of our help to give them a motivation for revenge. Though, the idea of opening permanent portals is a good one. It will be hard for them to ignore it if we open a permanent access point on a main square.’

We continue our chat for a while, but I am not as concerned as John regarding the Prip’s re-education. V is a perfect example that it’s possible. Maybe we will have to force them to change their bodies, but there will be other races joining us. Some might take a little more time than others to adapt to the V.C. and we shouldn’t forget that the Prip were biologically immortal before they joined us. Their whole civilisation is old and set in its ways. Short-lived species might be better at adapting.

I end the call when Alie, Julie, and Kylie storm past my office, followed by Silith who is pulling Jill along. Soon after, there are screams coming from what sounds like the living room.

Shaking my head, I get up and follow them the few metres down the corridor until I find the whole group arguing over V and the boy who are on the sofa in a slightly compromising position, hugging each other, which isn’t well received by the boy’s matriarchs.

Only Myriad knows how that happened.

They are hugging on the sofa, still clothed, but a few V’s blouse’s buttons aren’t where they are supposed to be. Jill has a stupid grin on her face, while V searches with her eyes desperately for Silith’s help.

“He is too young!” Julie complains, joined by her sister’s arguments. “Both are too young!”

I raise both eyebrows, surprised by the sentiment. In terms of mental age, their bodies' maturity suggests that they are old enough, but I often encountered strange sentiments with these old human personalities. As for me, I would be happy if V leaves the house, preferably taking Jill with her. I don't want to cut the ties completely, but having them living in a neighbouring solar system for safety distance would be well received.

Silith turns to me, hissing, “They were just kissing!”

Instead of assisting her, I turn and head back to my office, mumbling, “I have to install a door… and a lock!”