Interstellar Age

Chapter 285 A Hidden Threat

So long as she still remained connected to the hivemind of the Hive Fleet which she was birthed in, all kinds of valuable information entered Terminus' mind. Despite the distance now between her and the hive fleet.

Information gained from scouts and other specialized Naraku who kept a watchful eye over the galaxy's many affairs. It was because of this, one name in particular kept flooding her mind. Erich "Silber" Jaeger. The Germanic War Hero of the Terminus war, a man who launched the torpedo which obliterated the Hive Fleet. And thus Killing Terminus's sister in the process along with trillions of Naraku lives. 

This man had now proclaimed himself emperor of his people, and was preparing for a war to stake his claim. He was currently located in a system of space referred to as the Silber Enclave. All the information with the Scouts reported to her about this man, pointed to him not only being a skilled warrior, but a genetic specimen of the highest caliber. But the coup de grace about this man was the fact that he had been the one to destroy the previous incarnation of Terminus. 

What poetic justice would it be for her to stalk him down, seduce him, and then devour him? Only for his genetic material to be the foundation of the new Hive Fleet, which would devour and destroy the Germanic Star-Empire. 

It was the ultimate form of poetic justice, and because of this, Terminus believed that Erich should be her First Mate. There was just one problem with this. The Germanic people were incredibly xenophobic, and interracial relationships were deemed not only taboo but also a crime worthy of execution. She had a hard time believing that she would be able to convince such a man to sleep with her.

But of course, there was something else that appeared in her mind shortly after coming to this conclusion. The scouts reported that Erich was an unusual Germanic male, one who had a strong preference for alien women. The Hive Fleets could confirm he had at least two alien brides, and it was entirely possible that he had other alien lovers hidden throughout the galaxy. 

Thus the young Hive Queen regained hope, she was confident enough that she resembled humanoids closely enough that she might be able to ensnare the man, especially with her pheromones which were specifically designed to arouse any number of alien species when she decided to release them.

Thus, Terminus charted her course for the coordinates that were estimated to be a rough approximation of where the Silber Enclave was located. Her plan was to act as a diplomat of foreign insectoid species.

After all, though, it was not known across the galaxy. Many of the insectoid species which were far less hostile to the galactic community were in fact aligned with in some way to one or more Naraku hive fleet. Most of which simply paid tribute to the Naraku in order to prevent their invasion. 

It was with this in mind that Terminus ensured that one of her mother's allies created a false identity for her, one that could be verified easily by the agents of the Silber Enclave. She even had them dispatch an official request to send a diplomat in an attempt to establish an embassy on the world of Midgard.  All she needed to do now was wait for their response. 

---

Tia approached Erich with a peculiar expression on her pretty face. She had indeed received an official request by an insectoid race which existed somewhere in Alfheim Space. They wished to send a diplomat to discuss the idea of establishing an embassy in Midgard. 

This was not unusual in the slightest. In fact, ever since the Alfheim Empress recognized Erich's claim to the Germanic Star-Empire, and considered both the Silber Enclave and the GSE to both be one and the same as far as political entities were concerned. There had been many civilizations that were requesting to build an embassy in Midgard in the hopes of gaining the favor of the upstart civilization. 

Moreso than ever, as it appeared that the Silver Enclave, with its isolated and self sufficient economy, was one of the few civilizations in the galaxy currently not suffering from ongoing economic depression. 

However, perhaps Tia was being paranoid, but she found it odd that an insectoid race would reach out to the Silver Enclave for such matters, specifically while the Naraku were currently halting any and all activities. In fact, from what Tia could tell, every Naraku Hive Fleet was currently staying perfectly still within the void between star systems. 

They made no moves whatsoever, almost as if their Hive Fleets were derelict. Tia, of course, knew this was not the case, because she had attempted to get close to them several times, only for their drones to rip hers apart. 

Thus, she decided to ultimately speak with Erich regarding these matters. Though his judgement wasn't always sound. It was ultimately up to him whether or not they would actually entertain this guest. He was, after all, her Master, and the head of state for the Silber Enclave. 

"Master Tia has some troubling news..."

Erich sighed heavily when he heard this. He could already guess what she wanted to say. Because literally everything in his civilization was automated by Tia, including the training and buildup of the military. As well as all domestic matters. Erich had only one real role to perform as the Head of State, and that was to socialize with other civilizations' diplomats and leaders. 

He was not exactly the most social man in the world, and thus he found this job to be entirely dreadful. And since Tia was approaching him, it meant one of two things. Either there was some kind of disaster that she needed his approval to fix. Or she had another diplomat who wanted to meet with him, and he needed to decide whether or not to accept their request. Thus, Erich wore a particularly exhausted expression as he responded to Tia's statement. 

"Let me guess... There is another diplomat who wishes to speak with me regarding the establishment of an embassy here on Midgard?" 

Tia nodded her head, which illicit an exhausted groan from Erich, one which she ignored as she proceeded to explain the situation to the man. 

"That is correct... The diplomat who is allegedly from a civilization known as Nesuria wishes to meet with you." 

Erich immediately caught the key word in Tia's statement and was quick to question her regarding this information. 

"Allegedly? What is that supposed to mean? Are they or are they not from Nesuria? And to that extent, just who the fuck is Nesuria?" 

Tia quickly explained what she meant, and what her worries were regarding this particular diplomat. 

"The Nesurians are an anthropomorphic insectoid species whose civilization lies within dominion space, some 800 light years away from Midgard. Although Tia can confirm the legitimacy of the request, she believes the identity of the diplomat in question is suspect...."

Erich looked at Tia with a strange expression on his face while he asked her just what exactly did she mean by that. 

'What? Have their credentials not been verified?" 

However, Tia confused Erich even further by shaking her head before responding with a clarification on what she had meant by her previous statement. 

"It is not that, master... Tia believes that the diplomat in question might not even be a Nesurian. There are distinctive physical differences between her and the Nesurian species, although this may be done to the fact that she is royalty, Tia suspects that this diplomat may be more a member of a far more sinsiter species.... One which intends to do Master and his people harm...." 

Erich sighed heavily when he heard this. For whatever reason, Tia had been paranoid about the Naraku. Whose nearest Hive Fleet was currently half a galaxy away from his current location. She had also been obsessed with learning more about their species. To the point where he was now beginning to believe her fear and paranoia were clouding her logic circuits. 

"Tia... We have been over this. The Naraku are mindless bugs... They aren't even anthropomorphic! They look like giant fucking space bugs! How could they possibly pull off such a convoluted scheme? And how would they get the Nesurians to go along with it? The entire galaxy would be at war with the Nesurians if they found out that they were somehow helping the Naraku!"

Tia was quick to voice her opinion on this matter, but was almost instantly shot down by Erich. 

"Master Tia believes you are letting your biases cloud your judgement. The Naraku are!"

However, before she could further elaborate on her point, Erich interrupted her. 

"Tia enough! Unless you have some hard evidence about your claims, especially regarding this diplomat, then I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to approve their visit. Do you have any actual evidence to support the fact that this diplomat is not who she claims she is?"

Tia sighed and shook her head. Her evidence regarding the Narraku being a intelligent species was slim, especially when there was so little information known about the species. Her assumptions that the royalty could in fact be anthropomorphic were also based entirely on speculation. Speculation, which she was quite certain of, but could not prove.

And since she could not prove her theories, she knew that her master would not accept them. NOt out of a lack of trust, but because of his own experiences with the Narraku, and the biases that were formed as a result. Thus, with a heavy sigh, she responded in defeat. 

"No, Master, Tia does not have any hard evidence to support her claims..." 

With this said out loud, Erich sighed heavily before giving his companion an order. 

"Then approve this diplomat's visit. After all, if I were to come out and say that I am rejecting their visit because I feared they were a Naraku in disguise, I would piss off every single insectoid species in the galaxy. And I can't afford to do that right now."

Tia nodded her head with a defeated expression on her face and did as she was commanded. 

"Tia has approved the request. That is all, Master, unless you have further need of Tia?" 

Erich shook his head and dismissed Tia, whereupon turning around, her eyes turned a solid black. Luckily for Erich, he did not hear the artificial intelligence's thoughts, or he would be concerned. 

'Tia will be keeping a close eye on this disgusting bug... And if she shows the first sign of harming Master, Tia will wipe out her entire species!'

Thus, Terminus had no way of knowing this, but she was about to walk into the proverbial lion's den.