Interstellar Age

Chapter 267 Greed and Avarice

After informing Emrys of the deadline which Erich had come up with to transfer power over to him. Erich began his journey towards uniting the Orc Clans. After all, if he wanted to contend with a military power that was capable of defeating most sub-galactic powers, he would need a much larger army than he currently had.

But while Erich began, what would one day become known as the Unification Wars? Other powers in the Galaxy were observing his actions with suspicion. None more so than the Ghimderi Trade Union, whose Trade Princes gathered in their occupied world, to speak about how to handle this new potential menace.

The Ghimderi Trade Union had lost a significant amount of the wealth, and power, after Tia began interfering with their businesses and schemes. Over half of the Cartels and Banking Clans were gone, either collapsed, or absorbed into larger organizations.

And though many of his competitors were gone, Bixle Goldentooth was far from pleased with the results. Because he, too, had suffered repeated setbacks. Almost as if some hidden force was screwing with his plans to destroy the Germanic Star-Empire.

The old, and fat goblin waddled into the conference room and sat at his seat, which was at the head of the table. After all, he was the most powerful and wealthy of all the Ghimderi Trade Princes. With this in mind, he began to lick his sharp teeth with his long, skinny, and hideous tongue. After which he addressed his counterparts in a particularly hostile tone.

"Although we have all suffered setbacks these last few years, some of us more so than others. There is a new threat emerging within the galaxy, one that few of our pawns are aware of. This man, a citizen of the Germanic Star-Empire, and an Archon of the Alfheim dominion, has begun rallying the orc clans to his side.

By now you should all be aware of the name Erich Jaeger, though he seemingly disappeared two years ago, almost as if he vanished into thin air, he has returned, and in doing so, begun to wage war against the other Orc Hordes and Clans. In an attempt to conquer them, so that they might join his cause.

I have done a little digging into Erich's background, and I dare say, his motivations are to wage war against the Germanic Star-Empire in an attempt to usurp the position of Supreme Leader from the current dictator of the Empire: Alaric au Emrys.

Now, as we all know, Emrys is a shrewd statesman, and capable admiral. But he has been hesitant in expanding the Empire's influence and power across the galaxy, and has instead been focusing on rebuilding the losses suffered during the Terminus War.

But Erich is a wildcard. We don't know what his motivations are, what his domestic or foreign policy will be, or how he plans to run the economy of the Empire. Because of this, I suggest we approach the man in an attempt to coerce him to fall in line. After all, the Empire has stubbornly refused to engage in the galactic economy, and has violently retaliated against all of our attempts to interfere and subvert their backwards society.

Yet Erich appears to be a different breed. He holds no disgust towards aliens and has instead married one. He also has no qualms about leading a horde of Orcs to attack his homeland, meaning at the very least, he is not as xenophobic as the current administration.

It is because of this I believe he will be far more likely to work alongside us, rather than resist our demands! But I alone can not make such a decision, and thus I have decided to bring my thoughts to the floor so that we may discuss them as a collective."

The various trade princes looked at one another with varying expressions. Some seemed to find Bixle's proposal to be intriguing, while others thought the idea of cooperating with such a wild card was dangerous at the best, and outright suicidal at the worst.

It was ultimately one of Bixle's primary rivals who spoke of this matter. If there was one winner from the recent difficulties that the Ghimderi Trade Union had suffered from, it was this man. His name was Azek Slickfingers, who was the exact opposite in appearance to Bixle. He was frail, and skinny, with facial features that, while ugly by the standards of other races, were not absolutely grotesque like Bixel's.

The Slickfinger Banking Clan had absorbed about 25% of their rivals who had collapsed as a result of Tia's meddling in the galactic economy. Along with all of their assets. Making Azek the second most powerful Trade Prince in the Ghimderi Trade Union despite not even being in the top 25 prior to the economic recession that the Galaxy now found itself in.? Azek spoke in an equally authoritative manner as Bixel, as he argued against the man's claims.

"Pardon me, Bixel, but I think you are being reckless and are making far too many assumptions about this unknown actor. I too have done quite a thorough investigation on this Erich Jaeger, and aside from a partial military service record that indicates he served as a Starfighter Pilot during the Dvrakian and Terminus Wars. There is not much else known about him, other than his marriage to the Oni Princess, and a young pop star from his homeland.

Now we also know from the Federation's records that he was held as a prisoner under charges of terrorism, and that he escaped his interment, where once he returned to Dominion space he was granted the title of Archon. But what led to this decision is unknown.

It is almost as if both the Empire and the Dominion have gone to great lengths to hide the man's background from prying eyes. Which leads me to believe he was among the ranks of their covert operatives. If this is the case, then despite his political marriage to an Alien, he may very well be among the most staunch supporters of the Empire and its principles.

Why is he suddenly rallying his forces to war against the current supreme leader? I have thought a great deal about this, and I do believe it lies in the fact that Emrys is a usurper, having seized his power in the vacuum left behind after the self-exile of the previous administration.

We don't know how the GSE selects its leaders, after all they are a deeply isolated, and secretive society, but judging by the fact that Erich comes from the ruling class of the Empire, it is entirely possible that he was chosen as the rightful successor and is now fighting for his right to be the next Supreme Leader.

If that is the case, and he was indeed a covert operative, which would explain the gap in his service record, then he might have a far more hostile stance towards the Trade Union, and the Ghimderi People who have been for centuries propagandized as the natural enemy of the Germanic people. If this is true, then approaching him in an attempt to buy his loyalty will only result in a disaster. I suggest you all think carefully about how little we know about this man, and his motives."

Though Azek spoke of caution, the greed and avarice that were inherent in the Ghimderi people was too much for such a reasonable argument to be taken seriously. The idea of using Erich as a pawn to get the Germanic people to finally kneel before the Trade Union was too enticing for the majority of the Trade Princes.

After all, the Germanic Star-Empire was one of the few civilizations in the galaxy that utterly refused to take part in the galactic economy, which would be fine if they were not thriving, while the rest of the galaxy suffered through a recession.

Th Empire's fascistic economy model, which was based entirely on self sufficiency and stable expansion, was a threat to the Ghimderi Trade Union's wealth and power. After all, the more the galactic economy declined, and the more the Empire's economy improved, the more civilizations would break away from their reliance on the Ghimderi Banking Clans, and follow the Empire's path.

It was because of this, that when the votes were cast, it was overwhelmingly in the favor of Bixel's plan to buy Erich's loyalty, and use him as a pawn to get the Empire to join the fold. Thus, Bixel was quite happy with this vote. And planned to send a representative to Erich's fleet soon enough.

Of course, Azek was right, despite Erich's more liberal views towards Alien races. He was by no means a xenophile or a globalist. And was indeed a staunch nationalist and imperialist. Not only that, but Erich's opinion of the Ghimderi People was about as low as it could possibly be.

After all, he had witnessed firsthand the Ghimderi's attempts to arm the Empire's most ancient enemies so that the Confederation could wage war against those they perceived to be the personification of evil. A feeling that was mutual among the citizens of the Empire.

Thus, the Ghimderi Trade Union was in for quite the surprise when they finally reached out to Erich in an attempt to bribe him into submission.