So came the day for the meeting between myself and the Sovereign of the Empyrean Illuminate. The Chosen was Iakesh 5, fifth planet in the Iakesh system, for those who cared to know. I arrived in my newly christened Flagship,
the Extinction. This was the largest ship I had yet built, and was loaded to the gills with weapons and armor so that, when push came to shove, all who stood in my way would fall. I'd loaded up a small army of machines onto the ship, and several crap-tons of fabbers, just in case the peace summit went south. Of course, nobody needed to know how much firepower I was packing - best to let them assume the fleet I brought with me was all I was using, lest the grow terrified of ne and attempt to take drastic measures to stop me.
As soon as I was in the system, I secretly used exited my vessel aboard a stealthed shuttled and descended toward the planet's surface. I did not want to deal with the crowds just yet. Once I was planet-side, I simply found the building that we had chosen to be our meeting point and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Okay, maybe it was a mistake arriving five hours early.
Oh well, might as well sight see.
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Supposedly, Iakesh V was famous for it's beautiful architecture, and it did not disappoint at all in that regard. It's skyline was punctuated with the peaks of tall skyscrapers, with a constant influx of air-cars, flying bikes, and hover buses passing through the area. Beyond that was a beautiful purple skyline, devoid of pollution, which lead to the clouds being colored varying shades of red, yellow, pink and green. Strange flying creatures occasionally passed through the city, deftly maneuvering through it as if it was there home. On the streets below the spectacular horizon, people went about their daily lives, working, buying, selling, and living. Kids played games new and only, as well as various different sports. I briefly found myself roped into a game of basketball, which I managed to not fail at. Eventually, with an hour left before the meeting was to commence, I sat down on a bench at a park not too far from the meeting building, and took a moment to, quite literally, sit back and smell the roses.
"Enjoying the view?"
Opening my eyes and tilting my head to the right, I found myself staring at a figure in white, who had walked up to the bench and taken a seat next to me. Their attire, simple robes with a hood, prevented me from seeing any part of their body. That was an odd, and somewhat unnerving, choice of dress. Best be careful with what I say next.
"Indeed I am. Why do you ask?"
"No particular reason," was their response. "Though, I must admit, it is a good view. Nice one to look at when you want to relax."
"True. Very true."
We sat in silence for a few minutes. A ball rolled up to us, lost by some kids while they were playing a game of volleyball. The figure in white picked it up and threw it back to the approaching kids, who quickly resumed their game.
"So," my companion finally said, "do you like this place?"
"This world? Well, I suppose it is nice-"
"Not this world, you small minded man. I mean this universe."
"....what?"
"Do you find your efforts to help the natives against their enemies to be worthwhile? Are your actions here fulfilling?"
"I'm not sure what you are talking about-"
That was as far as I got before the being sighed, stood up, and lifted their hood off their head.
The minute I saw their face, I froze.
Standing before me was Melissa, who was giving me a Cheshire cat grin. I suppose I looked like an idiot at that moment, so it wasn't surprising that she was staring at me like that.
"Hello, my amusing pawn. How have you been?"
"...what....how...I..."
"Are you wondering why I am here?"
Too stunned for words, I just shook my head.
Her response was to make a face indicating mock exasperation. "Why, I am offended. You invited me here, and now you have the gall to look surprised?"
What? I invited her? "What do you mean by that?"
Her response was to take out some medallion and hand it too me. "Examine this medallion, then check the internet equivalent of the Emyprean Illuminate for information regarding it. I think that will answer your question."
Though I was still somewhat wary of my ROB, she hadn't been deceitful to me in the past, so I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Doing as she said, I examined the medallion, then accessed every database the Illuminate had and searched for something similar. Eventually, I got a match.
Said match was not one I had been expecting.
Apparently, the medallion was a symbol of office for the
Sovereign of the Illuminate. Which meant that.....
"So, do you want to begin the meeting now?"
"....Don't you want to have it in a more formal setting?"
"We're just going to talk, we can do that anywhere. It's not like we'd be doing something indecent."
".....fair enough. Though, in all honesty, if you are the leader of the Illuminate, I don't think I have any need for negotiation."
"And why's that?"
"The most likely reason the Illuminate attacked my forces was because you ordered them to do so, and you proabsbly did that for your own amusement."
"Right on the money."
"As expected. As for why I don't believe in negotiating with you, trying to negotiate with you is pointless. You'll do whatever you want to me, whether or not I approve of it. I have no reason to assume you have an ill intent toward me, but my point still stands."
"Gee, how long did it take you to figure that out, genius?"
"Snarky, aren't we?"
"Guilty as charged. My earlier question still stands, though."
"I know, and to answer, well......yes, I guess I am enjoying it."
"What specifically, do you enjoy the most? Crushing your enemies, outsmarting them, letting them watch everything they've built go up in smoke?"
"No, actually. While those are things that make me feel good, those aren't the things I've enjoyed the most in this universe."
"Then what, pray tell, are those things?"
"Well, the first one would be getting to actually lead my creations as an actual leader, and not someone who just gives orders."
"...well, that is a first. Continue."
"The second thing I've enjoyed about this universe is taking the chance to try and help people beyond just fighting off their foes and advancing their tech. I've opened up markets for goods that I can sell, offered humanitarian aid free of charge to those in need, and worked to erode one of the more malevolent amraces in this setting with as little bloodshed as possible. So far, it is working out."
"Interesting. Anything else?"
"Yeah, one last thing."
"And that is?"
"Well, I got to celebrate Bianka's birthday."
Melissa actually went a little stiff when I said that, though she soon recovered. "Oh, and what did you make for her? I pair of diamond earring? Perhaps you got her a pet?"
"Actually, she's interested in pairing, so I made her an easel, some brushes and some canvas, and acquired some paint for her."
"Did you just use your bio-tech to grow the brushes and easel out of wood while minimizing the waste?"
"No. I carved all of it by hand."
That statement almost made her fall over in shock. "You....you....you're serious? You have some of the most advanced technology in existence, including instant fabrication, and you made a gift for your adoptive daughter....by hand?"
"Well, of course. I want it to be meaningful. And something that you made by ordering a machine to build it isn't the same as something you put your blood, sweat, and tears into and made by hand...is it?"
"....no, I suppose you're right."
Melissa seemed to be unhappy to admit that. Maybe she thought differently? Or was there some other reason? Perhaps she didn't have good birthdays? Either of those weren't things I felt appropriate asking right now.
"So," I began, "to change the subject, may I ask why you've been taking territory for the Drengin? I'd have thought you'd help them, since they are one of my principle enemies in this universe."
"I was thinking about that, but ultimately, I decided against it, for two reasons."
"And those would be?"
"One: nobody likes them, so it would be easy to take territory from them without attracting suspicion."
"Ok."
"And two:......I abhor slavery."
......seriously?
"You, who have called me, and I quote, 'my slave', oppose slavery?"
"Yes. And before you use what I've said against me, you are more like a pet cat to me - I own you, but otherwise I have no control over you. You do what you want and all I can do is watch."
"....You're not watching right now."
"Fair enough, but still, you can belittle me without consequence. A slave cannot do either."
"....alright, you do have a point."
"I do enjoy hearing you say that."
She looked like she was about to say something else, but my stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly, provoking a blush from me and an amused smile from my ROB.
"How cute. Are you hungry? Would you like a sandwich?"
"Eh, sure."
Still smiling, Melissa got up and walked toward a nearby stand selling sandwiches. As she approached, though, she noticed someone sitting on a nearby picnic table, all ragged and dirty. He also seemed to be quite thin, from what little amount of his skin I could see.
Melissa stared in for a moment, before continuing on her way and ordering something from the stand, presumably two sandwiches - one for me and one for her. Much to my surprise, though, after she payed for the food, the salesman gave her three sandwiches, one of which she offered to the man on the picnic table, who quickly thanked her before digging in.
Returning to her seat, Melissa handed me my sandwich, which contained the meat of a local bird, a funny smelling cheese, and lettuce. It tasted delicious. Next to me, I watched my ROB tear into her sandwich, and noted, amused, that apparently, she was a messy eater when she wasn't acting formal.
"So," she said, finishing her meal, "have you found anymore artifacts in this universe?"
"One so far, and what data I received from scanning it implied I have two more left to locate."
"I see. So, how are you dealing with the Dread Lords?"
"I'm doing well against them. They are tough, but they will, inevitably, fall."
"Good to hear. You are so interesting when you are doing well."
I was about to reply when I received a notice from one of my ships that a Drengin vessel had just entered the system and was approaching Iakesh V. More appeared to be on the way.
"Um, Earth to Flame, you just spaced out."
"Sorry, but it appears trouble is coming. A Drengin vessel was just spotted heading toward this planet. I think they might want payback against me."
"They could just as easily be after me," was her response. "I have caused them a fair amount of trouble, after all."
"Maybe they want to take two birds down with one stone?"
"Perhaps. So, are you going to fight?"
"I've already got forces landing on planet and setting up forward bases. Time to smoke these fools."
"Do you mind if I intervene as well? I have no love for them, and I would like to watch them fear me."
"Does this make us allies of convenience, then?"
"Only for this one battle. No more, no less."
"I see."
I received a notification that my first landing group had arrived and was setting up shop just as warning alarms began to sound throughout the city. With the enemy on the way, I teleported in my robotic guards and prepared to seek shelter. Preferably somewhere the Drengin weren't interested in blowing up.
"Show off," remarked Melissa, who promptly proved herself a hypocrite by teleporting her own guards to her side. "And besides, couldn't you just teleport yourself off planet?"
Just as she said this, I received an alert that a Drengin transport ship had just arrived at Iakesh and was sending troops down to the surface.
"Fair enough."
I quickly activated the teleporter aboard my ship and
"Error," remarked the female voice of the AI that assisted commanders in the Planetary Annihilation, "Teleporter deactivated."
......WHAT!?
"Commander net is now down. Rebooting......error: Commander net. Hard reboot initiated....new error - Commander net operating at minimal efficiency. Command radius limited to sphere of 10 kilometer radius."
......THE FUCK?! But how could they....
Quickly, I had the only scanning systems in range search for a signal like the one I'd detected from the artifacts. Sure enough, I found one.
One that happened to be coming right from the Drengin troop transport.
Oh hell.
"Um, weren't you going to leave?"
"I can't - one of the artifacts just showed up. And the Drengin have it."
".....seriously. Why do
they have to have it NOW of all times?"
"I have no clue, but I've lost control of most of my units."
"Then for your own safety, keep your head down and follow me."
"Just like last time?"
"So it seems. I hope this doesn't become a habit."
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AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
