Interstellar Age

Several months passed since Erich first joined splinter, and during this time he did not hear much from his contacts in the criminal underworld. Every now and then he would be forced to perform some menial job, and then report it to the IIS, to ensure that the Grand Admiral did not suspect that he had switched sides. But aside from that, the rest of his leave was spent either in Mirage's bedroom, or completely alone.

However, while Erich's life had returned to a state of normality, S'aleth's father was still being held for interrogation. In a far corner of the Germanic Star-Empire, there lie a small facility, constructed on a rather large moon which surrounded a certain gas giant.

At first glance, there was not anything remotely interesting on this moon. It had no valuable resources contained with in it, nor an atmosphere which was capable of being terraformed. Instead, it was a barren rock.

Or so one would think; however, deep beneath the surface of this moon lied a large facility, one where the Empire kept many of its extra terrestrial prisoners. Normally, the Germanic Star-Empire would have no business with aliens outside their borders, but there were a few who managed to cause trouble in their sector of space, or very well near it, and because of this, the authorities had built a prison to contain these wildly different species.

Deep within this facility was a solitary cell, where S'varin lie confined to a table. For months now, after subjecting his daughter to some rather vicious forms of torture, in an attempt to learn just which Germanic male she had disgraced her bloodline for, the man found himself in the hands of Germanic custody, where he received far more brutal treatment than he had given his own daughter.

The sad truth of the matter is, S'varin was subjected to the worst kinds of torture imaginable, everything from dedicated neurotoxins which lit his nerves ablaze, to more primitive methods of interrogation such as flaying the flesh from his body. If there was a way to inflict physical and mental anguish on this man, the Empire's interrogators had conducted it.

Time and time again, S'varin would hope for death, and just when the reaper was about to claim his soul once and for all, he was brought back from the brink of death by the Empire's advanced medical technology, where he was fully restored and then tortured once more.

Despite the unspeakable treatment which he had received during this time, S'varin had not broken. Until now, that is. His mind simply could no longer bear the torment which he received, and finally he revealed that which the Empire wanted to know.

"It was the Ghimderi Trade Union! Specficially, the Goldentooth Cartel! They supplied us with the weapons and knowledge to rebel against the Empire. Bixel Goldentooth has a particular hatred towards your race, and is trying to use us to weaken your military strength. He says if that were to happen, you won't be able to survive that which is to come!

However, it is not just the Dvrakian Resistance; he is brewing animosity between several Sub-Galactic Powers with the intent of stirring them into an armed conflict against the Empire. We were supposed to work in coordination with these foreign powers when they finally declared war on you! That is it. It is all I know; I swear! So please, kill me!"

This news had stunned the interrogators who had overseen S'varin's torture, to the point where they did not know how to respond to this information. Instead, they quickly contacted their superiors, who relayed this information to their own bosses, until finally it reached the Grand Admiral's desk.

Immediately, Emrys sought to verify the claims that S'varin had made, and thus he continued the man's interrogation until he could finally confirm whether or not his words were true. And after two weeks of solid sleuthing, the spies within the Imperial Intelligence Services were indeed able to do just that.

What this revealed was a conspiracy by a particularly powerful interstellar civilization. One who was on par with the four major Galactic Powers. The fact that the Ghimderi had begun to target the Empire was no doubt a result of their refusal to join the interstellar banking system, which the Germanic people have long since, and rightfully believed, was a means for foreigners to gain power over their systems.

The fact of the matter was that the Ghimderi Trade Union was now acting against the Germanic Star-Empire from behind the scenes, and not only were they supplying separatist movements across the Empire's recently conquered space, but they were antagonizing several sub-galactic powers in an attempt to force a conflict to occur.

This was effectively a declaration of war, and if the Germanic Star-Empire did not have other, more dire concerns that were immediately in front of them, then Emrys would be tempted to respond to these provocations with coordinated terrorist strikes on Ghimderi banks across the Galaxy.

Unfortunately for him, Terminus was months away from reaching the Empire's borders, and because of this, Emrys needed to shelve this idea for a later time. Thus, after discovering this news, his first response was to contact the Empress of the Alfheim Dominion, and alert her to this discovery.

Lunaria was, as always, excited to see the rugged and handsome Germanic male's holographic projection. And just when he was about to speak, she confronted him with the words he was not expecting to hear come from her luscious lips.

"This is about the Ghimderi Trade Union, isn't it? What, are you perhaps shocked to see that I am already aware of your situation? You can relax and focus on more important matters. As we speak, I am maintaining the situation.

Those pathetic dregs who clap and bark for those filthy Goblins like trained seals will not be a problem that you have to take on by yourself. In fact, I have already sent my delegation to their actual masters, informing them that I will be taking military actions against their vassals if they do not intervene and halt this nonsense.

And while those filthy dark skinned freaks spat in the face of our threat, both the Asura Cabal and the Ennead Theocracy have agreed to calm their hounds, and prevent them from attacking your Empire.

As for that fat sack of pus, Bixle, I have already arranged a little gift for him. One which I am sure he and the entire galaxy will enjoy to their heart's content. After all, it is only fair that after sending his agents to kill my own flesh and blood I have a little fun at the expense of his own bloodline.

So, I assure you that he will be more than busy putting out the fire which I have started over these next few months. I suggest you make use of this time that I have given you to prepare your forces, because the Naraku are very near, in fact I suspect Terminus will be within your newly acquired borders in the next few months.

You must be aware by now, Admiral, that if you take this path, entire worlds will die. Even if your species does somehow manage to survive this ordeal, the destruction wrought upon your civilization will have long-lasting consequences."

Grand Admiral Emrys nodded his head in agreement with the Alfheim Empress's words before responding to them with a fierce look in his blue eyes.

"We are well aware of the projected losses, but the Germanic people remain resolved to fight to the very last man, if need be. We will either survive this ordeal, or die in such a way that the galaxy remembers our people until the very heat death of the universe. I thank you for dealing with those pesky green skinned freaks, and I promise, that so long as the Germanic Star-Empire lives on, we will one day repay this debt...."

After saying this, Emrys hung up on the Alfheim Empress, who then shifted her gaze onto the little gift which she had prepared for Bixle Goldentooth, and the galaxy as a whole. However, contrary to what one might expect from the situation, it was not Bixle that Lunaria had targeted for vengeance, at least not directly, but rather one of his daughters.

Thus at the moment, in this Elven throne room, there was a female Ghimderi, who, unlike the male members of her species, was not exactly what one would call hideous or grotesque. In fact, her features were quite cute and attractive to any near-human species. However, she was bound and gagged while wearing a blindfold. Tears streamed down the young Ghimderi woman's eyes, as she feared what was about to happen to her.

After Bixle had targeted Celestia with his assassins, Lunaria had returned the favor, and kidnapped the scheming runt's daughter. The Alfheim Empress intended to film a particular lewd scene, one where the young goblin woman would be ganged up on by the political leaders of the Germanic Star-Empire, who were naturally wearing masks to conceal their identities.

As repayment for the debt which they owed the Alfheim Empress, these men would break the taboo of their race and have their way with this Ghimderi woman on film. This film would be sent across the galaxy as retribution for the Goldentooth Cartel's schemes against the Asterion Dynasty.

Thus, Empress Lunaria Asterion wore a sadistic grin on her otherwise pretty face as she sealed this Ghimderi woman's fate.

"Let the show begin!"