《The Exiles return》 Prologue It was a normal patrol for TSS Julian. Just like any other patrol on the edge of the milkdromeda galaxy, there are days where something happens and days where nothing happens. Captain Gonzales sighs in boredom, during the war, patrolling the edge of the galaxy was as dangerous as being deployed in the frontlines. Many fleets tried to do encircling maneuvers by going outside the galaxy and catching friendly ships by surprise from behind. Nowadays, the patrols are reduced, and many of the soldiers who used to go on patrol chose to retire from military service. And only a fixed number of ships are used to patrol the edge of the galaxy. ¡°Any news?¡±, Captain Gonzales asked the lieutenant who was monitoring the situation. ¡°No sir, it¡¯s as usual¡±, the lieutenant sighs. ¡°Well then, I¡¯ll be in my office. Inform me if anything happens¡± ¡°Will do sir¡± Captain Gonzales stood up from his seat, and walked to the automatic doors, about to leave the bridge when the lieutenant suddenly called him. ¡°Uhh, sir? I¡¯m receiving signals from the void¡± told the lieutenant. ¡°The void? You mean from outside this galaxy?¡± questioned the puzzled Captain. ¡°Yes sir¡± ¡°What does it say?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s still unintelligible, but I reckon it¡¯ll take a couple of minutes before we decipher it¡± ¡°Well shit, just when I was about to take a nap in my office, something interesting came up¡± Captain Gonzales seated back into his command chair, legs on top of the command terminal, and arms laid back, truly an attitude befitting of a ship captain. ¡°By the way, Max, how far are we from the nearest solar system?¡± asked the captain as his eyes started to close. ¡°Abouuuut 50 light-years sir¡±, answered Max, as he fiddled with the terminal in front of him. ¡°Fifty, huh.¡± ¡°Well, maybe, the question to ¡®is there life in another galaxy?¡¯ is finally going to be answered here¡­naaaaah¡± Thought Gonzales as his consciousness drifted away. ¡°Sir, the transmission is deciphered, do you want me to play it?¡±, asked lieutenant Max as he looked back at the sleeping Captain. ¡°Yeah sure, thanks for ruining my sleep¡±, the captain woke up and fixed his posture. As annoyed as he was, he should still listen to what the transmission was, as it came from outside the galaxy. Well, Max said it came from outside the galaxy, so I¡¯ll just go with it. ¡°Play it, Max¡±, captain Gonzales said while moaning. ¡®Greetings void dwellers, this is a message from her majesty queen Merula Zenith, the queen of all Elves and the Elven realm, blessed by the Gods of nature, fertility, and justice. We are reaching out to you, as we discovered activity from beyond the great void. We are inviting you to return to the holy realm, and we are offering an apology, in the name of the Elven realm.¡¯This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. As the transmission ended, there is a surprised Captain Gonzales with a frozen face, whose coffee was rushing from the cup into his lap, as he was in the middle of drinking an Americano before the transmission started. And a lieutenant Max, who¡¯s just staring at the endless space. Processing the information that he had just received. ¡°Well shit, I guess it really did get answered here¡±, said captain Gonzales as he put his now empty coffee cup into the table beside the command terminal. ¡°What do we do now, captain?¡± ¡°Obviously, we tell Terra about this, and there is a probability that I¡¯ll get promoted! You too Max, there¡¯s a possibility that you¡¯re gonna get promoted too¡± said the captain, while making his way outside the bridge. ¡°I¡¯m gonna report to my superiors first¡±, the captain said as his footsteps echoed through the hallway just outside the bridge, before the sound of the automatic doors closing. * Sol system, Terra, Presidential palace, the President¡¯s office. ¡°Fuuh¡± A feminine voice can be heard simultaneously as someone plopped down into an office chair, it was the 849th President of Terra and all of Humanity, Evelyn McBloom. She had just finished writing countless documents and answering calls from different ministries. Although she has been President for 9 years, she has been getting little rest. As she is fixing the country with all her might to avoid collapse. The country had just got out of a 5 millennia-long war that saw none of its participants victorious. 11 years ago, the war ended in a ceasefire and finally, a peace treaty one year after the ceasefire. Evelyn McBloom was elected after the previous President resigned from office and elections were called. She is the first President in a time of peace after a very long time, and everyone expects much from her to manage the postwar country. A knock is heard from the office door. ¡°May I come in, madam President?¡± ¡°Come in¡±, said the President as she straightened her back. A white-haired woman entered the office. She is the President¡¯s secretary, Layla Miles. She has long ears, similarly looking like Elves. However, she is not an elf, she is a Homo Dryadalis, A subspecies of Humans. Made from genetic engineering by two guys in the 25th century. ¡°Madam President, i have a message from the Commander-in-chief¡± said Layla, ¡°his excellency said that it¡¯s important¡± ¡°We¡¯re in the 96th century AC, and we¡¯re still sending and receiving messages this way? What¡¯s the message?¡± Evelyn sighed. ¡°Patrol ship TSS Julian apparently received a transmission while on patrol 50 light years away outside the galaxy¡± ¡°And?¡± said Evelyn as she raised her eyebrow. ¡°It apparently came from outside this galaxy. From deep space, as people call it¡± ¡°..are they sure that it¡¯s not from¡­. What¡¯s the nearest system there?¡± asked Evelyn. ¡°The Kirill system, madam¡± ¡°Right, the Kirill system, are they sure that the transmission isn¡¯t some broadcast from a news station in the Kirill system?¡± ¡°Captain Gonzales and Lieutenant Max, the people who discovered the transmission, has confirmed that it does not come from Kirill¡± ¡°What¡¯s the transmission?¡± ¡°You can read it here, madam,¡± said Layla as she hands over a five-page document. Evelyn took the documents from Layla¡¯s hands, put on her reading glasses, and began reading. At first, she was skeptical, but while reading, she slowly raised her eyebrow. After 4 minutes, she finished reading and quickly stood up. ¡°Hey Layla? What¡¯s the progress on the ship equipped with the new intergalactic drive?¡± asked Evelyn as she took her red coat from the coat hanger. ¡°TSS Explorer? I think that it will finish production in a couple Earth months. Maybe 4 months?¡± answered Layla as she walked over to the President. ¡°Excellent, we¡¯re gonna change plans and test that ship while carrying an ambassador to an unknown galaxy. Best case scenario, the ship arrives safely in that galaxy. Worst case scenario, I''ll resign!¡± said the President in excitement as she walked out of the room. ¡°T -that¡¯s a bit reckless! Congress won¡¯t like that, and the media would think that you¡¯ve gone insane!¡± Layla exclaimed, while hurriedly catching up to the President. ¡°I mean, I still have emergency powers right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not how it works!¡± the Secretary Exclaimed. The two continued their lively conversation through the halls of the Presidential palace. [REWRITE] Chapter 1 : the Elven situation ¡°Hoaaahm¡± I woke up at my usual time at dawnbreak. ¡°Nghh¡± I wiped my eyes and saw my breakfast at the table beside my bed. I am Merula Zenith, the current Queen of the Elven realm, and Elves as a whole, blessed by the Gods of Fertility, Justice, and Nature. Lately, I''ve been having breakfast in my room instead of the dining hall. Is it because of working too hard to fix and govern this realm? Well, it is. But it¡¯s also because I''m excited about one thing. Void dwellers. About 7 months ago, the broadcasting tower caught a mysterious transmission. At first, I didn''t think much of it, but after investigations were done by the wizards who used the broadcasting tower, they concluded that the mysterious transmission originates from beyond the great void. Theories were given, and the most prominent of which is that the fallen races who were banished to the great void somehow managed to survive. Although, many saw the theory as ¡®ridiculous¡® and ¡®impossible¡¯, until we sent a simple message to the great void in the direction of the transmission, and got a response. The response was ¡°This is the Government of the Terran Republic, we have received your ..uhm.. Message. And we would like to communicate further, reply to ....¡± or something along those lines. Over the course of 5 months, we agreed to establish formal relations, and they¡¯re sending an Ambassador here too! We also learnt about them over the course of 5 months too. Who would have known that the void dwellers we contacted were the most hated race of all time! Humans! Short history lesson, Humans were banished from the Holy realm because they are too prideful, arrogant, and deceitful. Even their creator, the mother Goddess of creation, Lady Terra, is ashamed as to what she created. Long story short, the entire Holy realm went to crusade against the Humans, and we banished them. Knock knock knock ¡°Come in¡± I said as I brushed my blond hair. ¡°Pardon the intrusion¡± As expected, Aila entered. She is my guardian knight, Aila Arcturus. She has been guarding me since we were still children, and she does her job well. ¡°You majesty! You¡¯re brushing your hair wrong!¡± Aila said as she rushed to me and took the brush. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll brush it for you¡± ¡°Thanks¡± I replied while still being half awake. ¡°You¡¯ve been sleeping late, lately, your majesty. Are the Human void dwellers big of a deal?¡± said Aila while she brushes my hair. ¡°Yes! They are! Have any other races contacted someone from the great void? As the Elven realm got first contact with the void dwellers, we¡¯ll have a monopoly on diplomatic relations with them, as we are the first who contacted them,¡±I explained to Aila. ¡°But.. they¡¯re Humans. Can we trust them?¡± Aila asked with suspicion. ¡°I don¡¯t know, we¡¯ll see when they get here¡± I answered honestly. ¡°...¡± She continued brushing my hair, while I ate my breakfast. We made small talk, talking about the recent gossip of the higher nobility, our friends'' weddings, and politics in the Holy realm.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Time seemed to pass very quickly while we made our fun talk. * After having breakfast, and having a bath. I got to my office, working once more, with Aila following close behind me. I sat on the office chair, made from the finest of leather. I shuffled the papers that were prepared by the maids this morning, and began to read up on the latest situation. The late Beastman chief died, I¡¯ll send my condolences later. Some low-ranking noble was caught in a scandal, boring. Oh, a Duke was also caught in a scandal, also, boring. Ah, right, the gods are holding their yearly meeting today, and¡­ the topic of discussion is¡­ the expansion of entertainment¡­. Well I¡¯ll look into it later. Hmm? More trouble in Thulia? Those dark Elves are always making trouble aren¡¯t they? Thulia, located in the region of the Dark Elves exclusion zone, is the home to Dark Elves. In fact, it is their homeworld. In the beginning, there are two races of Elves, the High Elves, which is us, and the Dark Elves, which is them. We went to war to decide who should rule the Elven realm and the Elven race as a whole, the High Elves won, and we decided to keep the Dark Elves in Thulia, and restrict their access to the whole realm. However, the Dark Elves called us discriminatory, and demanded that we lift the restriction on Thulia. The King at that time didn¡¯t like that one bit, and he burned the once green world of Thulia. No wonder, the Dark Elves are undermining Crown authority every chance they get. ¡°Hey Aila..¡± I called Aila ¡°Yes, your majesty?¡± said Aila as she bowed her head. By the way, she¡¯s been standing there all this time while I read the papers. ¡°What¡¯s the current situation in Thulia?¡± I asked Aila while my eyes were still glued to the paper pertaining to Thulia. ¡°The Viscount we sent were killed the instant he tried to introduce changes¡± Aila answered nervously. ¡°Well.. just great, looks like i need to send the Royal Army again¡± I sighed. I stood up and walked to the glass cabinet, and took a calming potion, which I always have in stock when I¡¯m working. ¡°Say, Aila, on the topic of Thulia, do you think that it would make a great present to the Human void dwellers?¡± I asked Aila after I drank a calming potion. ¡°...You¡¯re giving Thulia away, Your majesty?¡± Aila confusedly asked me back. ¡°Well, since many of our problems are coming from Thulia, I thought it would be nice to give this problem to the Human void dwellers. After all, they also need a place to settle, after being in the void for so long,¡± I answered. ¡°But your Majesty is giving away core Elven world to the suspicious Humans from the void! What would the nobility think of you?.. Pardon my words..¡± ¡°They¡¯ll thank me later when the cause of all of the Elven realm¡¯s problems is lifted¡± I said as I shrugged my shoulders. I put the now empty calming potion back into the glass cabinet and walked towards the office chair. ¡°Well, what do you think of the Human void dwellers, Aila? Do you think we could trust them?¡± I asked Aila as I sat back on my chair. ¡°Uhm.. I think they¡¯re very suspicious, in the first place, can you live outside the Holy realm? Especially in the great void, a place that doesn¡¯t even have any worlds in it. Also, if there are Human void dwellers, there should be other fallen race void dwellers too, like the Hadarian race, the Threal race, and the other thousands of fallen races who were banished from this Holy realm! We could trust them for now, but we¡¯ll need to exercise caution when dealing with Humans, this rule has become the norm in society. Humans are liars and are good at deceiving people¡± Aila answered honestly, she spoke loudly and clearly. ¡°Is that so..¡± I said ¡°well, thanks for you opinion, Aila¡± ¡°My honor is yours, your Majesty,¡± said Aila as she bowed her head. ¡°You are dismissed¡± Aila bowed her head once more and left the office, leaving me alone to work in peace and quiet. ¡°Well, i think it¡¯s time to write my condolences to the new Beastman Chief¡± I spent the rest of the day writing my condolences and congratulations for the coronation to the new Beastman Chief, usually leaders of the realm, like me, are invited to the coronation. However, I abstained today, for the reason of being too busy with internal issues. And I am. Meanwhile, in the President¡¯s office. ¡°Did I hear that correctly? You¡¯re sending me, a civilian Ambassador, to an unknown galaxy, possibly filled with hostile civilizations, and quote irl Lovecraftian horror end quote, using a newly produced ship with an untested drive that just came out from experimentation just years ago? Plus, I¡¯m meeting Elves! It¡¯s like meeting an entire species of my wife! Except, they''re not Humans nor are they a subspecies of humans! What am I supposed to do!?¡± the Ambassador ranted. ¡°Sir Hawkes, you just need to establish a formal diplomatic contact with them, get on their good side, and negotiate to build an embassy there¡±I told the Ambassador calmly. This is Ambassador George Hawkes, an experienced Ambassador, but he has a split personality disorder, one of them is an easily panicked person who would jump at the slightest interference, and the other is a professional who has helped him in the past 70 years. Basically, he has two sides, a scaredy cat, and a professional. Seems like the right person to entrust this mission to. ¡°I¡¯ll also assign a marine squad on your command, to protect you from the possible threats that might arise¡± I said as I looked him in the eyes. ¡°Ok¡­ when do I depart?¡± he asked me in a quiet tone. He must¡¯ve been intimidated. ¡°Next Earth week¡± [REWRITE] Chapter 2: The Apostle ¡°Where did they say that they¡¯re gonna land, your Majesty?¡± said Aila, talking against the strong wind, as we walked on top of a hill. ¡°Wherever that is a flat ground. Preferably, a flat grassland¡± I answered loudly as I could in the strong wind. I am with my entourage today, scouting for suitable ground for the void Human¡¯s void ark. We are currently in a naturally flat grassland, not far away from the Royal Palace. The winds are unusually strong today, as I could see leaves being flown around, and trees almost being blown away, losing most of their leaves. My entourage consists of around 30 knights, the Minister of construction, Mineo, and ofcourse, Aila. We stopped walking. We¡¯ve arrived on top of a hill, overlooking the flat grassland before me. Currently there is a new city being constructed here, already having 300 residents despite construction being half-way completed. However, the construction of the city is postponed until the void Humans arrival. ¡°Minister Mineo!¡± I called the minister of construction. ¡°Yes, your majesty!¡± he replied as he made his way to my side. He took a paper from his robe and opened it, revealing the construction plans for the redesigned city, which includes a wide area that will be the void Human¡¯s landing area. ¡°What¡¯s this? This isn¡¯t the design we planned a couple days ago!¡± I said angrily after I saw the construction plan. ¡°W-well, after I discussed this with my colleagues,¡± the minister coughed, ¡°the idea of postponing the construction of the city is met with negative reactions. They argued that construction had already reached the next phase, and that the constructed roads and buildings, which had people living in them, would need to be destroyed to make room for the landing field¡± he explained. He then put a finger on the city square. ¡°After much discussion with my colleagues, the city square would be improvised and used as a landing field until further notice¡± continued the Minister. ¡®Hmm.. very well. But the construction of the city square is still unfinished right? Quickly finish it¡± ¡°By you will, your majesty¡± Mineo bowed and stepped back. The city square isn¡¯t finished right now, I could see it still being covered in grass, with patches of stone slabs in some places. There are buildings surrounding the unfinished town square, presumably, where the 300 residents lived. Although being a city under construction, it appears to be lively. There is a market already established in the roads in front of the houses. And well known merchant shops building their own shops some distance away from the general market. ¡°Well, I suppose in the near future, this could be a historic city and a popular tourist destination, and thus making income¡± I mumbled under my breath. Of course, that would only happen if things went smoothly. ¡°What did you say, Your Majesty?¡± Aila, who stood beside me, asked as if she heard something. ¡°Nothing¡± i answered, ¡°well then, let¡¯s go to the city to inspect things¡± ¡°As you wish, your Majesty¡± We started going down the hill, heading for the city. Because the sun is already setting, I will stay in the local fort, and return to the Palace the next morning. As we made our way downhill, I saw a group of people wearing white robes¡­. The Holy Church? What are they doing here? ¡°HALT! Identify yourselves!¡± shouted Aila as she drew her sword at the group, with the knights following suit. ¡°Wait¡­ Aila, it¡¯s the Church..¡± I said to Aila as I grabbed her left shoulder. The Church¡­ an institution with a complicated history. And a mish-mash of differing ideologies, faith, race, and interests. The Church was created by the gods several millions of years ago to represent all gods equally, and to administer each of their authority to their followers. An institution to solve issues, and help the mortals if the need might arise, regardless of faith.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. This worked¡­not¡­ Stronger gods began to gather power to themselves, and usually, the opinions of the stronger Gods are worth more, than some minor God. The Church began to treat other followers differently, based on their faith. Issues tend to be overlooked, particularly, the issues of a minor God¡¯s followers, and corruption in the current Church. It has been thousands of years since the Church resolved any issues, or passed a resolution to do something. The Realms and Church are separated, with the both of them doing their own things. However, both the government and the Church have equal power, and thus, no one can massively interfere with each other. Mortals are represented in the Church too of course, in the form of Apostles. All Gods have to have an Apostle, and they were chosen every few thousand years. They travel the realms of the holy realm, and help anyone that requires help. Surprisingly, the Apostles are more helpful than the Church, who had only been preaching things this whole time. But there are of course, some radical Apostles who would follow and listen to their God, regardless if it¡¯s right or wrong. And the Apostle I didn''t want to meet, at least, right now, came to meet me. The Apostle of the mother Goddess Terra, Ira. ¡°Apologies for the sudden visit, your Majesty!¡± Ira said as she walked over to me. ¡°What is the Apostle of Her Holiness Lady Terra doing here, might I ask?¡±I questioned the Apostle. Who by now, have stood in front of me. ¡°Her Holiness¡­ heard interesting rumours.. One about the Elven queen letting the exiled Humans return to this sacred Holy realm..¡± said the Apostle as she looked over to the construction Minister. ¡°You know that Her Holiness thinks of Humans right? Your Majesty¡± she continued. ¡°I understand, but we should change location first. You wouldn¡¯t want to stand in the open for too long right?¡± I asked the Apostle. ¡°Very well, we should go to the fort at once!¡± she exclaimed. The Apostle turned to her group and began to walk to the fort in front of us. I calmed Aila down for the Apostles'' disrespectful behaviour, and we followed Ira¡¯s group behind, though at some distance away. After some time, we arrived at the fort. I headed to the fort¡¯s office immediately, I invited Ira too, and ushered her to the chair in front of the office desk and facing me. ¡°Alright, what does the Goddess of creation want to do with us Elves?¡±I asked as I stared at her eyes. ¡°That¡¯s not the way you should be addressing Her Holiness, but I¡¯ll overlook it¡­¡± she said while smiling, staring back at me. ¡°Anyways, as I¡¯ve said before, Her Holiness has grown suspicious about the recent events regarding the Elven realm. First, banning slavery, now.. I dont know how you¡¯re gonna build things without slaves, but when i saw the construction of that city over there¡± she stood up, and pointed to the city through the window, ¡°I¡¯ve concluded that you¡¯ve managed to make things work¡­¡± She then put her finger down, and sat back down. ¡°Secondly, this relates to the abolition of slavery.. Your Majesty does know about the majority slave population, right?¡± the apostle asked me as she crossed her arms. ¡°Of course, the majority of them are races who have lost their place in the Holy realm. The fallen races, as they called¡° I answered. ¡°Correct, and you must know that Humans have the most population within the fallen races¡± ¡°Of course¡± ¡°These newly freed Humans¡­. I¡­know that your Majesty is sending them to¡­ Humanopolis? I recall that¡¯s the world¡¯s name¡± she paused, ¡°That world¡­. It¡¯s becoming a base for Human extremists. No, not just Humanopolis, the entire Elven realm is a base for those Extremists! Rumours about the soft Elven queen are circulated among Human populations, and they¡¯ve been migrating and escaping to Humanopolis and the Elven realm these past months, causing serious damages¡± she continued. Ira coughs, ¡°I''m sorry your Majesty¡­ but, do you have a drink here?¡± she asked. ¡°Well, i have this glass of water just sitting here since this morning, here ya go¡± ¡°Thank you¡± said Ira as she took the glass and gulped it in one go. ¡°Right¡­ where was it?¡± said Ira as she put down the now empty glass onto the desk. ¡°..right, the Human mass migration¡­.¡±she said, ¡° ¡°This relates to the third problem, the void Humans¡­.¡± she pauses as she looks at the papers on the desk, ¡°how would they react to their own kind being treated like this? Her Holiness wants to keep things in the Holy realm as is. There¡¯s also the Human extremists.. Still believing that their great king is alive and well outside the realm¡­ they would no doubt contact the void dwellers¡± she continued. ¡°I¡¯ll ask you, the honorable Apostle of the Goddess of creation, lady Terra. What does the Goddess want with us Elves?¡±I asked the Apostle. The Apostle stood up, and bowed slightly. ¡°Her Holiness¡¯s request is simple. I want you majesty, Queen Merula Zenith, to allow me to attend the contact with the void dwellers¡± ¡°...¡± I carefully thought about it for a while. ¡°..sure, why not?¡± I accepted her request. ¡°Really? Thank you, your majesty! I will follow you to the Palace and stay there for the duration of the void Humans stay!¡± the Apostle said as her head, revealing a cheerful face, looked up at me. She then excused herself and went to the fort¡¯s guestroom. Leaving me alone in the office. ¡°Aaaahhhhhh¡± I laid my back against the soft chair. That¡¯s her request? I thought it would be more troublesome! Like ¡®reinstate slavery back!¡¯,¡¯destroy Humanopolis!¡¯, or ¡®cease contact with the void dwellers! Or else you¡¯re going to be branded as a heretic!¡¯ Aahhh. I closed my eyes. Well.. at least the first contact will be more interesting¡­or not¡­ really¡­why did my focus change from social reforms to contact with void dwellers? Doesn¡¯t matter, either way¡­my name is going to go down in history¡­at least, hopefully, the right history. My thoughts dissipated as I drifted away in drowsiness. [REWRITE] Chapter 3: on the way A magnificent vehicle is cruising through the vast empty space. A spaceship, equipped with an experimental drive. It''s a miracle that the ship didn''t explode already. Though, it''s better that it doesn''t explode at all. A spaceship fresh out of the production line. The TSS Explorer. An Explorer class, armored intergalactic science ship. Equipped with the newly developed Galactic Travel Drive, which allows for faster FTL travel, almost passing 89 parsecs/hour. This allows ships to travel between galaxies. It''s still experimental, and expensive, and also unproven. Which is why the TSS Explorer is on her maiden journey onto new galaxies. And the one commanding this precious ship is none other than Captain John C. Gonzales, and by his side is Lieutenant Max. They were reassigned and given command of the ship after their discovery of the transmission. They are now heading towards a new and unknown galaxy, filled with uncontacted species, and untapped natural resources, probably. "Y''know, Max. If we''re doing something stupid as this during the war, we''re all ready fucked" Said Captain Gonzales as he looks outside the bridge Windows. "I never got the Chance to ask you this, but, what were you doing during the war?" "I was an officer at the TSS Milkyway, took part in many battles, and eventually got transferred to a patrol ship after the war." Max Answered. "TSS Milkyway¡­ I Heard that ship took part in exterminating several pirate colonies." "Yeah.. The skull of the pirate lords was still hanging on the bridge when I got transferred." The two were now discussing their plans after retirement, and talking about life in general. Captain Gonzales also found out that Max is a son of a wealthy CEO of a relatively well-known company. Suddenly, an officer came rushing to them and told them about the ambassador''s situation. "Captain, the Ambassador has returned to his professional side after 2 hours of being a caring father figure." The officer told the captain. "That''s good news. It''ll take a burden off his secretary." The captain replied. "The technicians and engineers on board also requested that we slow down to make maintenance on the drive and the engines." "It''s that time again huh? Very well. We''re not that far from galaxia incognito now." After that, the officer excused himself and went away. "Well Max, I''ll be excusing myself too." The captain said as he walked out of the busy bridge. He was walking through the hallway when suddenly, a door to his right opened. And a red haired woman who has small black dragon horns and a huge bosom came outside. This is ambassador Hawkes''s secretary, Madelyn J. Mandela. "Fancy seeing you here Ms. Mandela" Said the captain, "why were you in the infirmary?¡° asked the captain as he looked at the sign above the door. "Ah, captain. I just went to grab my phone when I noticed that it was missing from my pocket." Madelyn answered. "Are you going to the ambassador''s office now? I''ll accompany you" offered the captain as he tipped his peaked commanders cap. "No, I''m going to my quarters. I''m tired" "Then I shall accompany you there" The two of them began walking towards Madelyn''s private quarters while making small talk, with the captain occasionally flirting with her. Eventually they both were in front of Madelyn''s room. "Ah right, I forgot to ask you this. When you have free time, can we get lunch together?" Asked Gonzales. "Hee~ is it a date in the cafeteria?¡° Madelyn teased.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. "Well, I wanted to get to know you better and have lunch with you" "Fufu~ so you wanted to know me better huh?¡° said Madelyn with a mischievous smile. She grabbed the captain''s arm and pulled him inside her room. "Wait! You''re tearing my arms apart!" Protested the captain as he is being dragged in. Afterwards, Max couldn''t find the captain anywhere, not even in the captain quarters. Looks like he''ll need to represent the captain during the first contact protocol briefing. It''s been a while since he took part in a first contact mission. Back then, many species were, depending on their stance, wiped out after first contact. It''s for purely strategic reasons. No one wanted a species who would most probably align themselves to an enemy state, supplying said state with materials and military installations. So, the only logical thing to do is to wipe them out before they could pose a real threat. Lieutenant Max sighs as he remembers his first time taking part in a first contact mission. He was ordered to blow up their planet after negotiations broke down. The planet was destroyed, and the universe moved on. No one questioned why the planet was destroyed. After all, in this galaxy, the strong will always prevail. And will always rule the weak. He eventually found the meeting room and proceeded to enter. Inside, there were ambassador Hawkes, several officers, and some engineers. All of them are sitting at a round table, where a hologram of the president will appear. "Good evening, ambassador" Greeted Max as he sat next to the ambassador. "Ah, Lieutenant. Did you by any chance see where my secretary is?" Asked the ambassador when he noticed the lieutenant. "No I didn''t sir, on the contrary, did you see the captain anywhere?" Max replied, and asked a question of his own. "No I have not, lieutenant. Also, just call me Hawk, like everybody does" "Very well, Hawk," Max nodded. "But seriously, why did she just disappear in a moment like this? She''s supposed to know about this stuff" The ambassador said whilst fidgeting. He must be very nervous because of his secretary''s absence. "Yeah," He sighed. "The captain said he was going to be in his room. But I couldn''t find anyone there" As the two were conversing with each other, a small hologram appeared in the middle of the roundtable. It was the president. And the last briefing for this first contact mission has started. After the greetings and introductions once again, the president recites the special first contact procedure, only for this mission. Max was familiar with the first contact procedures, and the ''special'' procedures were just the normal procedures with some parts changed and rewritten. Terra is also switching from a wartime first contact procedure, to a peacetime first contact procedure. So, it was understandable as to why everyone is a little bit nervous and having 7 different discussions about this. The ''special first contact procedure'' are as following: Communication. Communicating with the leadership of the contacted species to negotiate for a meeting and to search for a possible ally. Technology exchange. Depending on the contacted species''s technology level, technologies exchanged from Terra will be limited and/or outdated. Cultural exchange. Understanding each other''s culture and touring the species''s homeworld (optional). Announcement (optional) . Announcing the population of the contacted species and informing them of a successful first contact. That''s pretty much it. Max prefers the wartime procedures, as it was more simple and straightforward, roll up with warships and make demands from the contacted species. If they refuse, their home world gets obliterated. Simple. "That would be it, gentlemen." The president said, looking around the room. "Any questions?¡° "Here, madam" An officer raised his arm, "what do they look like?" He asked. "They called themselves¡­.Elves. Which is also a nickname for one of humanity''s subspecies." the president replied. "That''s interesting, we found a humanoid species." An officer with long ears, an ''elve'' spoke up. "Under the Declaration of Human Rights, any humanoid species that has two eyes, two arms, and two legs are considered human. And the government is obligated to protect and provide welfare for them" He added as he laid back in his chair, hands crossed, ".. And by protection, I meant annexation of their homeworld." Everyone in the room went quiet, some were looking at the officer who said that. While some are looking at the president''s hologram, waiting for her response. The declaration of human rights was old, very old. It was rewritten multiple times, back when humanity genetically engineered a subspecies of their own. To their first contact with extraterrestrials. "Well.. We''ll see." the president finally spoke. The officer nodded. "Well, then. Any other questions about this first contact?" Many people raised their hands, making a big fuss. Hours passed, and the meeting soon ended. Max was heading to his room. Before going there however, he took a small detour to the captain''s office, just to see if the captain reappeared. He did not. So Max just gives up looking for him. He''ll return by himself eventually, this isn''t a planet, but a spaceship with limited space. Although the ship is huge, it also has a full security system. These CCTVs were installed just.. Last week. So Gonzales should have been seen in the cameras. Max judges that the captain being missing is a huge problem. And seeing as he is the second in command of the vessel, he took control temporarily. He got into his room, changed into casual navy uniforms and jumped into the soft bed. Every Time he sits on this bed, he has a feeling of instant drowsiness, and this time is no different. The lieutenant fell asleep, just like that. Chapter 4: A sudden attack The Queen of the Elves, Queen Merula Zenith, is currently drinking tea at the garden of the Royal palace. She is accompanied by her aide as well as bodyguard, Aila Arcturus. The atmosphere at the garden is pleasant. Classical music resonates through the air and the delicious snacks provided by the royal chefs contributed to the Queen¡¯s calm mood. She sips her tea and flips a page of a book she¡¯s reading. It is a romance novel about a High Elf and a Dark Elf who tries to keep their relationship a secret due to the historical relations between the High Elves and the Dark Elves. It has been her favorite novel to read for over two centuries. Her interest in the novel gradually died down. However, the recent contact with Human void dwellers reignited her interest in the book. Because, there is one scene that she loves the most, it is about the couple''s secret date at the Human world of Anoria. The dark elf has an interest in history, they visited many famous sites and he began to tell his girlfriend all about them. This sparked an interest in Queen Merula, she decided to research Human history in order to learn more about Humans and to spend her time until the void dwellers arrive. There is the occasional administrative work that she has to do as Queen, but so far, it hasn''t deterred her from researching Humans and their history. Her tutor told her when she was a child that Humans are a very dangerous race with a rich history. If you ignore their policies on other races, then you''d get a very culturally diverse, unique, and a progressive race. The Humans were the first to champion commoner representation in government, although with severe limitations. And of course, Humans only. Merula notices that her cup is empty when she tries to sip. Aila notices this, and pours hot tea into her cup. Merula finishes reading her book and sighs, she puts the book down. "If only Human written literature weren''t burned down." "You seem troubled, my Queen." Aila said with a concerned look on her face. She walked to the Queen and stood beside her. "Hmm? Oh yeah, reality hit me as I realized how important books are." She lamented the loss of written knowledge. "...What makes you so intrigued about these Humans, my Queen?" Aila said, "as far as I could tell, they''re just normal, fragile Humans. Only difference is, they come from the void." "Exactly. That''s why I find them very interesting." The Queen retorted, "we all know that survival outside the Holy realm is impossible. Then how come these Humans survive out there? Without the blessing of the gods no less." She finishes. ".. And the only way to receive these unknown Humans is to invite them to the palace and give them an entire world?" Aila argued with her. Normally, when someone, regardless of their rank, disobeys or questions the Queen, they will get executed for treason. However, due to their relationship, and the fact that they''re both childhood friends, she can get away with it. "We-" Merula tried to argue back before someone interrupted her. A maid pushing a cart filled with delicious foodstuffs enters the garden. "Excuse me your majesty, I hope I didn''t interrupt something" The maid said as she knelt down. "..No, not at all" Merula responds. The maid then begins to replace the old snacks with new ones. While she did this, the Queen eyes her, watching her every move. The maid begins to feel nervous as she does her duty, uncomfortable with the way the Queen sees her. "Excuse me, your majesty." The maid said after she is done with serving her the food. The Queen watches her leave the garden. She then looks to Aila, who has been standing beside her, and asks, "since when did we have Human maids?". "Since your majesty abolished slavery without success. You then decided to use Humans as maids in the palace to help desegregation, with mediocre success" She replied. "I did that?" The Queen looks at Aila with a puzzled face. "I guess all this work made me forget about it" She sighs, slumping on the table. ¡°I¡¯ll see if i can get a deal or something from the void Humans..¡± ¡°Yuhuuu~ whatcha doing here?¡± Ira said strolling into the garden, she is wearing her casual clothes. ¡°You seem lively, miss Ira.¡± Merula said, looking up and seeing her sitting in the chair in front of her. She then took a tea cup and poured hot tea from the teapot. After that, she began eating all of the snacks available on the table. ¡°What''s with you? You seem to have never eaten in life!¡± Merula said as she watched the Apostle devour the variety of food on the table. ¡°No don''t eat that!¡± Merula snatched her favorite pastry from Ira¡¯s hands. ¡°I can¡¯t help myself! The food that the Church serves are all so bland! I¡¯m tired of it!.¡± she pouted, ¡°You are an Apostle, have restraint¡± Merula said to the pouting Apostle. ¡°Can¡¯t you get more food? You¡¯re the Queen here after all.¡± Ira Said as she crossed her arms. ¡°..Very well, but restrain yourself and eat properly like a civilized woman.¡± I signaled Aila to order more food from the kitchen, which she complied and went to the kitchen. ¡°I must say your majesty, I am impressed by your royal garden. I took the liberty of touring the premises and I find that your outdoors is really an eye freshener.¡± said Ira as she ate a cake slice. ¡°Miss Ira, you shouldn¡¯t talk while eating, it is not elegant for a lady to do that.¡± I said, ¡°But thank you for your compliment about the garden. We elves like to mix nature into our buildings as decorations or to honor the nature goddess.¡± ¡°Interesting, before coming here, I thought that elves live in trees and take baths from open rivers. And I thought that you people still use a tribal system like the beastmen.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Contrary to popular belief, we certainly build buildings, infrastructure and such. We also cut down trees despite our nature-loving culture,¡±I explained. The second I said that, Aila suddenly appeared behind me and said, ¡°Your majesty,¡± while bowing. I jumped, ¡°Aila! You surprised me!¡± ¡°Apologies, your Majesty. But I have worrying news.¡± She Apologized ¡°Worrying news? What is it?¡± I asked her about the news. ¡°It¡¯s about the void Humans envoy, they were attacked by pirates¡± ** ¡°Captain, we have several unknown vessels heading directly to us¡± An officer told me while I was at the canteen, taking a break. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be reporting this to Lt. Max when I''m taking a break?¡± ¡°The Lieutenant told me to get you to the bridge, this is urgent, Captain¡± ¡°Fine. Madelyn, keep my food safe ok?¡± ¡°Sure thing Captain¡± I then followed the officer back to the bridge. After I entered the bridge though, I noticed that the Ambassador from Terra, George Hawkes, and Major Lieutenant Philip Yang Ritz, The man in charge of the marines here. It seems like they¡¯re discussing something, Max is also there with them. I headed towards them. ¡°Ah, Captain. You¡¯ve arrived!¡± George said, ¡°There has been contact with a native of this galaxy while you were away.¡± ¡°Contact?¡± I confusedly asked, ¡°were they our escort the president has told us about?¡± ¡°Oh no no no no,¡± George laughed it off, ¡°They¡¯re pirates¡± ¡°Pirates?!¡± I raised my voice quite a bit, back home, pirates were a problem, correction, Was a problem. Pre-war Terra had piracy problems, internal trade was disrupted and pirate raids on poor worlds sparked an immigration crisis. That was before the war, the 7 millenium long war. At the start of the war piracy increased by 200%, but as the war progressed, the military finally took action and conducted an all-out massacre of pirate strongholds and eradicated most of them. ¡°You said pirates.. What happened then? Is this ship equipped to deal with a pirate fleet?¡± ¡°There are no problems,¡± The Major replied, ¡°in fact, this ship is apparently more than enough to deal with that pirate fleet.¡± ¡°Really? How?¡± ¡°After we recognized them as pirates, we decimated them of course.¡± he said, ¡°Easily, at that¡± ¡°That easy? How many ships did the fleet have?¡± I asked. ¡°About¡­. Thirty? I think? I¡¯m not that observant¡± Philip scratched his head. George cut in and said, ¡°how the hell did you become a Major Lieutenant then?¡± he said to the Major who just laughed it off, ¡°anyways, Captain¡± turning back to me he said, ¡°The pirates are a bit¡­ off? You could say.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Look at this recording of the ¡®battle¡¯,¡± he played a recording on a large screen that is placed on the front of the bridge, so that everyone could see it. It displayed a one-sided slaughter between the TSS Explorer and the pirate fleet. With this ship erasing the fleet from existence within 5 minutes. But what I noticed while I was watching the footage, was that the pirate ships are.. A bit¡­Odd? They look like those ancient ships waaaaay before Humanity became an intergalactic civilization. If I ever learned anything from highschool, these designs are at a time where Humans hadn¡¯t even discovered a whole ass continent yet. The only difference that I could spot on the ships are the wings at both sides of the hull, the absence of sails, and a giant battery that shoots¡­.something. How does that work anyway? The hull is entirely wooded, and the deck is literally unprotected against the void of space, how the heck can they breathe!? ¡°As you¡¯ve probably noticed, Captain. The ships have a striking resemblance to ancient naval fleets of ancient Terra,¡± George told me, ¡°let me explain you history-¡± ¡°No thanks, Ambassador. I¡¯ve gone through the education system too.¡± i cut him off, ¡°the real question that i have is How the hell can they breath on the deck of that thing.¡± ¡°Maybe there¡¯s an invisible force field on top of the deck providing oxygen? It¡¯s my wild guess though.¡± Max said. ¡°That sounds science-fictional.¡± Philip interjected. ¡°Who knows?¡± Max said as he closed the recording, ¡°300 years ago people thought that launching the stars as a projectile was impossible.¡± ¡°Well-¡± before Philip could say anything, he was cut off by George. ¡°We¡¯ll need to inform Terra about this.¡± George announced. And everyone agreed. It wasn¡¯t until sometime that our escort arrived. The ships looked almost the same as the pirates, we told them that we were attacked by pirates and they apologized for not coming earlier. I was returning to the cafeteria. While I was walking there,I took out my phone and I saw a notification. It was from madelyn, it read; ¡°I returned to your room¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry I brought your food¡± ¡°Hurry up k?¡± ¡°By the way, I used your card¡± * Thousands of light years away from Terra In an extravagant room, filled with ornaments and priceless historical artifacts that are mostly millions, if not billions of years old, stood a tree. A tree without leaves and no roots connecting to the earth. Yet this is not a normal tree, the tree is an ancient intelligent sentient species. Although their population is only about 250 thousand, they all live for more than ten million years. And this particular tree is 8 million year old. They are the Hutian. The only space faring civilization that have evolved from plant life. Another Hutian came up to it. ¡°Chancellor¡± it bowed. ¡°Responses?¡± ¡°All four powers have agreed to reinstate the Galactic Union. In a few Hut Months, they will be signing a peace treaty and resume trade.¡± ¡°Finally, everything is looking up, atleast.¡± the Chancellor said. For the duration of the war, which is largely named, the War on Heaven, or the War For Heaven, the galactic economy became Kaput after just a century of fighting. The Galactic Union dissolved afterwards. It is a dark age for the civilized galaxy. It¡¯s a free for all, a Human politician once quoted during a session in congress. For seven millennia the chancellor has been trying to keep the damage done by the war to a minimum. For seven millenia the chancellor has to witness countless species get exterminated for suspicion in helping the other side. While the single star system the Hut has are treated as a special neutral space. Becoming a safe haven for species who had either been driven out of their homeworlds or their no longer existing homeworld. ¡°Chancellor, I have news from the Humans¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°They developed an intergalactic drive. And they are currently making contact in neighboring galaxies¡± ¡°This is the first time I have heard about it.¡± ¡°The news was only released by the Terran government at 6am Earth time.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care what the Terrans do in another galaxy. Clearly they¡¯ve been developing that drive for the war effort. I¡¯m grateful that it was relocated to the civilian sector.¡± ¡°Yes chancellor. I will excuse myself now.¡± The Hut left the room, leaving the Chancellor alone ¡°Now, let¡¯s see how these warmongering empires transition into peaceful times.¡±. The chancellor sighed. Chapter 5: The Silver behemoth ---- ¡°Gods¡­ why must I be sent to the edge of the void?¡±An Elven male wearing a captain¡¯s uniform sits in a chair and rubs his eyes. ¡°I should¡¯ve stayed a farmer..¡±, the Captain sighs. He is Galanthar Javius, a Captain in the Elven royal navy. Galanthar is no ordinary captain. He is the captain of the Eden, one out of the 3 most powerful void ark, called mega-void ark, that the Elven realm possesses and the oldest void ark still in service. Built 3 centuries ago, the Eden was made into a flagship and fought in several wars, and the Eden is also the most decorated void ark of the entire holy realm. Obviously, the crew of the Eden took pride in their job at the ship. Galathar had worked his way up to being the Captain of the vessel and becoming a respected leader. He was born a commoner in the outskirts of the capital city in the Elven capital world of Zenith and joined the army a year before the current Queen Merula took over. Despite being a commoner, and thanks to the Queen¡¯s reforms and his own hard work, he had risen through the ranks and was appointed the Captain of the Eden by the Queen herself. Unfortunately for him, he became captain at the worst time. You see, the Elven realms¡¯ new Queen, Merula Zenith, initiated several reforms aimed at improving the lives of commoners. This doesn¡¯t sit well with the aristocracy to no one¡¯s surprise. Since the current Queen ascended the throne, there has been an ongoing political struggle between the crown and the aristocracy, which divided Elven society. And now, Galanthar, is entrusted to escort the void humans to Zenith, along with the Eden and a fleet of 6 void arks. This is because he is the last loyal captain of a mega-void ark who is loyal to the Queen. While the other captains of the mega-void arks are of noble descent, Galanthar wasn¡¯t, he was a commoner who¡¯ve risen through the social structure thanks to the Queen¡¯s reforms. A knock on the door is heard. ¡°Captain, we¡¯ve arrived at their location,¡± a voice coming from behind the door called out to him. ¡°Right, I''ll be there,¡± Galanthar replied. ¡°I¡¯d suggest you get out if you want to see something magnificent,¡± the voice said to the captain. ¡°Fine,¡± said Galanthar as he stood up from his chair and fixed his uniform. He heads out to the door and opens it, finding his adjutant to be the source of the voice. His name is Aglevis, and he joined the navy about 2 years ago, so he was relatively inexperienced. ¡°I knew it was you,¡± said Galanthar as he looked at his adjutant, ¡°so, what is it? What¡¯s the magnificent thing you were talking about?¡± ¡°Come with me¡± Galanthar followed Aglevis to the deck, he noticed that upon leaving the captain''s quarters, the surrounding area was quite empty. Presumably all the crew went to the deck to look at something that Aglevis told him about. As he arrived at the deck, he saw all his crew staring at something in the empty space. When he turned to look, he could see what could only be described as a heavenly construct made by the gods, several gods. The silver behemoth struck fear and awe to those who witnessed it, at least that¡¯s what Galanthar felt, he couldn''t be sure for the rest of his crew, he¡¯ not a skilled mage.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°A-aglevis? What is that?¡± Galanthar asked his adjutant. ¡°The void humans I presume, Captain¡± Aglevis responded to his captain, who was still observing the silver behemoth with keen eyes. The captain turned his head to him and asked, ¡°T-that¡¯s them?¡±. ¡°..probably¡± Aglevis shrugged his shoulders. Composing himself, the captain said, ¡°Well, I need to be prepared to welcome them onboard,¡± the Captain said to his adjutant, he then faced his crew and shouted ¡°GET BACK TO WORK YOU BUFFOONS!¡± The crew who were watching the silver behemoth ram the wreckage without a scratch reacted to his voice and immediately went to work. * ¡°Well would you look at that,¡± Major Philip said as he looked at the wooden galleon floating in space, ¡°pray tell that the nerds back home could figure out this black magic?¡± ¡°How the hell could they breathe out there?¡± Captain Gonzales spoke. ¡°Probably some absurd law of nature in this galaxy..¡± Ambassador Hawk answered the captain, ¡°..or it¡¯s probably because of their species¡¯ characteristics?¡± ¡°Could be..¡± replied Gonzales, ¡°should we meet them?¡± ¡°Ofcourse, it would be rude not to. Plus, we''re on a diplomatic mission anyways,¡± Hawk said. As they closed their agreement, Max came to them and reported on something that relieved the group. ¡°Sirs, i have news from Terra,¡± Max announced. "Brers has been retaken, and the majority of the insurgent¡¯s fleet has been destroyed¡±. Hawk raised an eyebrow, ¡°is it over?¡± he asked. ¡°It is predicted that it will be over in about 6 earth months¡± ¡°Well thank god for that¡± Philip exclaimed, ¡°that pointless insurgency has been there for 10 years! My daughter¡¯s younger than that war!¡± The Brers insurgency was caused by the dissatisfied populace against the central government, based in Terra. At the end of the war, massive protests erupted across millions of worlds under the control of Terra, many of the protesters demanded that the president take responsibility for the 1 trillion casualties caused during his presidency. The casualties came from the multiple offensive operations meant to break the stalemate in the war. In the end, the president resigned due to ¡®health issues¡¯ and elections were called. There is growing uncertainty during this time of great divide, human society was divided politically, and this enabled radicals to rise into power in regional offices. Violent protests erupted in many parts of the republic, and many wonder if a civil war might happen. Especially when the presidential election draws near. The presidential candidates were the center-right conservative Evelyn McBloom and the National Democracy party, and the left-leaning Maxwell Dubois MacMillan and the Liberation Party. One advocates fixing the economy and the other wants to make people''s lives better in the post-war era with social programs. After months of anxious waiting, Evelyn McBloom and the NDP won the election. People rioted after the election results were announced. Some say the NDP bribed election officials, and some say Evelyn''s husband, the incumbent Supreme commander in chief of the Terran National Military pulled some strings here and there to favor his wife and the NDP. Whatever it was, people started to riot. The riot in the Brers region was especially violent; in the planet Brers, Brers system, the local government was overthrown and declared independence from Terra. Many fear that this moment will spark a massive civil war, however, the National Intelligence Agency has suppressed other rebellious activities. Some military personnel and spaceships defected to the Brers side, and declared them the ''Free Army'', and vowed to overthrow the ''illegitimate'' government of Terra. Their rebellion went well, until the Terran military started to concentrate on them after dealing with other matters. Senators in Terra petitioned to just obliterate planet Brers, but that was quickly shot down. Chapter 6: First Contact I stood on the bridge watching the smaller vessel that emerged from the silver behemoth approach the Eden. I had prepared my crew to welcome the Humans, and they are currently lining up orderly, ready to greet the humans which are arriving soon. I glanced to my side and saw the diplomatic corps busying themselves in preparation for the Human¡¯s arrival. The Ship¡¯s maid are also here, obviously curious as much of the maids are mostly human slaves. Sorry, i forgot, former slaves. As her majesty recently abolished slavery¡­ for whatever reason. To honest, i don¡¯t really care about Humans or slavery in general. I was born and raised in a fairly remote world. There are slaves there, but i was kept away from them by my family. So I didn''t really interact with them for most of my childhood. I was only interested in climbing the social ladder, and finally becoming an admiral in the navy. Still, in my opinion at least, abolishing slavery does nothing but damaging the economy and tarnishing her majesty¡¯s reputation. And enforcing the law is quite expensive, so far, to my knowledge, only the crown world of Zenith has abolished slavery. Other realms showed concern and condemned her majesty¡¯s actions. And that¡¯s about it. ¡°Sir, the Humans are coming,¡± Aglevis, who was standing beside me said. I glanced at him and I could see that he was curious to meet the humans. Actually, all of the crew here are curious. The smaller sized silver vehicle edged closer to the ships deck. And stopping a couple of distance away, barely touching the deck. I looked at the symbol on the side of the vessel. I saw several white circles forming a flower. Is that supposed to be their coat of arms? The entrance of the ship opened and there walked 2 men and a woman. All of them are wearing bizarre clothing. And the woman isn¡¯t even human! ¡°Greetings! I am Ambassador George Hawk of the Terran Republic, here to represent Humanity and Terra. You must be the captain here,¡± the brown haired man now known as George Hawk said in broken elfish as he extended his arm for a handshake ¡°Greetings to you too, Ambassador. Indeed, I am Admiral Galanthar Mirilet, in charge of commanding this warship under the orders of her majesty,¡± I said whilst shaking his arms. ¡°This is Captain Julian Gonzalez and my secretary, Madelyn Mandela,¡± he introduced me to his associates. As I thought, George Hawk is the ambassador, therefore he is a bureaucrat. That explains his rather fancy clothes and easy going attitude. On the other hand, the one called Julian Gonzalez is a military man. Which is obvious as he is wearing an obviously military uniform, and a peaked cap with the white circles making up a white flower on it. For the woman secretary though, she¡¯s a civilian if i''m correct. Or a servant in service to both these men. Aglevis led them to the Captain¡¯s quarters to begin our discussion. They seem to marvel at the ship as their eyes were pretty much observing everything. And they were having a conversation amongst themselves. In human language of course, or else I would have known what they were talking about as they were talking pretty loud. Eventually we reached the captain¡¯s quarters. I ushered them in and they sat on the seats opposite of mine. ¡°Tea?¡± I offered. ¡°No thanks,¡± said sir Hawk. ¡°Alright then..¡± ¡°Now, allow us to reintroduce ourselves¡± sir Hawk announced, ¡°I am George Hawk, sent here as an diplomat and ambassador of the Republic of Terra to initiate first contact with the species, and we come in peace¡± ¡°I am Captain Julian Gonzalez, the Captain of the Explorer and an escort for sir Hawk right now¡± Gonzalez introduced himself. And finally, the girl with dragon horns introduced herself, ¡°and lastly, I am Madelyn Mandela. Secretary of sir Hawk¡± she said with a slight bow. ¡°Oh¡­uhm¡± seeing this, Gonzalez slightly bowed too. Only to be stopped by Hawk. ¡°Sorry for the mild inconvenience¡± ¡°No worries,¡± I answered,¡± so, what exactly are you?¡± I asked them as a maid to put snacks on the table. ¡°Human obviously,¡± Sir Hawk answered while Madelyn took a snack. ¡°Humans.. I only know humans that don¡¯t come from the abyss or wear fancy clothes,¡± and they don¡¯t have carefree attitudes like they own the universe like they do.. ¡°Well.. you¡¯ll never know until you see it then,¡± Sir Hawk said while he spread his arms.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I could see his other colleague, who was it? Right¡­ Gonzalez looked at Hawk like he was disappointed with his son. Eventually he sighed and took a bite of a snack. ¡°Well then, several weeks ago, her majesty has ordered me to escort the ¡®void humans¡¯ as she calls you, to our capital world, Zenith.¡± I said as I looked at the three of them, sir Hawk had changed his attitude and became serious after what he did before. ¡°We do not know where you came from, nor do we know your intentions. I¡¯m asking sir Hawk to explain things to us so we could better provide and understand you.¡± ¡°Very well,¡± Sir Hawk said, ¡°as you know, your people refer to us as the ¡®void humans¡¯. Although it is true to some extent, we actually originate from the planet Terra, or Earth, depending on where you were born.¡± he explained. ¡°Pardon my interruption. But do you have a God named Lady Terra, or Terra by any chance?¡± I ask Hawk. the humans named their world after the god of nature, surely they still in some form worship lady Terra like they used to. ¡°Uhh.. honestly, i don¡¯t know. We have many religions, but the biggest ones are Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Which makes up around.. 58 percent of people¡¯s belief¡± Hawk answered. ¡°Wait.. 58? I thought you said they¡¯re the biggest religions?¡± I went wide eyed, ¡°wait, what¡¯s the human population in Terra?¡± I decided to ask him about the human population, 58 percent is not that much if you can¡¯t translate it to the actual number. ¡°Population of Humans in Terra, eh?¡± he raised one eyebrow, ¡°let¡¯s see.. About 11 Billion according to the latest census.¡± he said. ¡®11 billion? That¡¯s a bit low for a race that hails from the void.¡¯ I thought, but what Hawk said next made me spit out the tea I was drinking. ¡°But in total though, there are approximately 900 plus quadrillion Humans spread out across millions of star systems in the Milkdromeda galaxy, which is nine hundred with fifteen zeros behind it. And that¡¯s according to the latest census, which was 10 years ago..¡± he explained. ¡°Th- that many, but your capital only has 11 billion?¡± ¡°Well in the early days,¡± *Cough*, ¡°millions of years ago. Terra was an overdeveloped shithole.¡± Hawk Explained, ¡°It was grossly polluted, its natural resources were dried up, and the planet¡¯s getting hotter every year. Naturally, when space colonization was first introduced, people signed in droves to start a new life out there in space. Back then there were only two planets available for colonization.¡± ¡°When was this? How do you develop a world so much that it becomes unlivable?¡± I decided to ask him. ¡°Capitalism, my friend.¡± Hawk casually explained. ¡°Private companies exploited nature for profit. And naturally, when space travel became available, wealthy companies started to expand into space and began exploiting new worlds after squeezing Terra dry- *Cough*¡± he coughed, ¡°pardon me,¡± he said as he reached for the tea served at them and gulped it in one drink. ¡°Where was i? Right, how capitalism destroyed Terra.¡± he said as he puts the tea cup back on the table. ¡°Eventually, the government heavily regulated the economy, and made the Sol system, a star system in which Terra is located, a Special Star System or SSS for short. Basically, the sol system is the capital system of the republic, and Terra is the capital. Are you with me so far?¡± he asks. ¡°Yeah, go ahead.¡± I answered. ¡°So, most embassies and government buildings are located in the Sol system. The presidential palace is located in Rome, Rome island, Terra. But the congress is located in the orbit of Terra, and most government buildings are located across the Sol star system, the embassies of other empires are usually built in the orbit of Terra, Venus, and Mars. Plus, the Sol system and Terra are the brains of the entire republic. The people living there are mostly the upper class, and government employees. All in all, the Sol system has a total of more than 200 Billion humans living in it.¡± Hawk finished. It took a good while for me to digest all that information. How can a world with 12 billion people rule an entire empire of more than 900 quadrillion people?! How can they ensure that those populations won¡¯t rebel and declare independence?! It doesn¡¯t take a genius to realize that these humans aren¡¯t the same as those millions of years ago. These humans are radically different, it¡¯s somehow scary how foreign they are. ¡°On the last question, does your ¡®galaxy¡¯ have dragonmen?¡± i decided to ask them about that secretary with horns, could there be other races than humans too out there? ¡°Oh boy do i have a story for you¡­uhm Julian you explain it¡± Hawk looked at Gonzalez. ¡°What? Why me?¡± he suddenly woke up from being half asleep. ¡°You live in Terra so you might now more than me,¡± Hawk told him. ¡°Uhm where do i begin?¡± said Gonzalez as he fixed his posture, ¡°so basically, two guys on earth managed to do some black magic called biological engineering. And they made fantasy races into real things, except they¡¯re just humans¡­ but with extra accessories for body parts.¡± he explained. ¡°Huh. I never thought I''d hear body parts as accessories.¡± I said. ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re just accessories. The horns, animal ears, and tails are just decorations. They do not serve any other purpose than just looks. Well the same can¡¯t be said for cat girls and their equivalent. So, returning to the two guys making fantasy races. After the government found out about them, through unpaid business loans, they were tried but eventually released because what they¡¯re doing was technically not illegal. As for the created fantasy races, they were eventually made into citizens and integrated quickly to the human community, as they do not have any culture of their own. Because they were literally made from thin air.¡± Gonzalez finished. ¡°Wooh that was long, I wanna get drunk once we get back to the Explorer,¡± said Gonzalez as he stretched his arms. That certainly was long, and i still cannot comprehend creating lives out of nowhere like that. ¡°Pardon, but i have one more question, why do you call your capital world Earth, and not Terra like Sir hawk did?¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s just cultural difference between people born in the inner circle near the Sol system and the people born outside the inner circle, don¡¯t think too much about it,¡± Gonzalez said. ¡°Then i would-¡± Sir hawk was about to say something before a crew member barged in my office. ¡°Pardon the sudden interruption Sirs, but we have a pirate fleet heading towards us¡± Chapter 7: A change of plans ¡°C- captain, are you sure you want to do this?¡± a crewmate onboard the pirate flagship asked his captain. ¡°Of course! That thing destroyed my scouting fleet! That thing better damn pay!¡± the captain shouted. ¡°But-¡± ¡°Shut yer¡¯ mouth before I cut off your tongue- hmm?¡± The captain turned from his crewmate and saw a shooting star in the distance approaching his ship with ridiculous speed. A blinding light will be the last thing he saw before his fleet were obliterated by unknown force. * ¡°.. aaaand they¡¯re dead,¡± said Hawk as he watched the explosion from the deck. ¡°I must say, you humans have several interesting weapons at your disposal,¡± said Galathar who stood beside him. ¡°That is a product of progress! and fighting each other for centuries..*Ahem*.¡± said Hawks as he turned to face Galanthar. ¡°I once again extend our greetings from the Terran Republic to the Elven realm¡± Hawk said as he extended his arm. ¡°The pleasure¡¯s all ours,¡± Galanthar shook his hands. After the pirate incident, they both went back to the captain''s office to continue their discussion. Eventually, the humans went back to their ship and Galanthar ordered his ship to escort the humans. * In the captain¡¯s office, after the humans left. ¡°So, what do you think?¡± Galanthar asked Aglevis. ¡°About the humans?¡± Galanthar nodded. ¡°I think they¡¯re unique, definitely not the same humans we are accustomed to. There¡¯s a sort of¡­ different air, around them,¡± Aglevis answered. ¡°How so?¡± ¡°I mean, they¡¯re literally from the void so¡­¡± Aglevis shrugged. ¡°Okay I get it. You may leave¡± Galnthar sighed. After Aglevis had left, Galanthar sat quietly in his seat for a moment, before he started to write a report. ¡°To Her Majesty Queen Merula Zenith, Ruler of the Elven Realm and all Elves. From Galanthar Mirilet, Admiral of the Void Ark HMZS Eden. Today, I have contacted the Void Humans. It is, as your Majesty had expected, they are different, although the difference is subtle, than any humans in the holy realm. I can see that they are slightly taller than our humans here in the holy realm. Their posture is also straight, like most noblemen. When I inquired to Sir Hawk on wheter or not he¡¯s of noble descent, he simply said ¡®no, i¡¯m not¡¯. Other than the dragon horned woman, they all look like normal humans in the holy realm.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Our human maids took a liking in them, and even tried seducing their captain who accompanied the ambassador. I guess they found a new hope in liberating their race. Here¡¯s to hope they don¡¯t commit acts of terrorism again now. The void humans also took an interest in our humans, Sir Hawk told me, ¡®it¡¯s interesting on how two exact same species exists in different galaxies¡¯ Nevertheless, I will continue to escort them to Zenith as your Majesty commands.¡± I finished writing and sent it through the teleportation crystal. I laid back on my chair and closed my eyes, before I realised I''d forgotten something, but what was it? I remembered the head maid telling me of a missing maid recently, I should have a look at it. * At the canteen of TSS Explorer, Hawk and Julian we''re discussing their recent contact over a glass of 300 year old wine. Which Hawk sneaked on board. ''I hope your cowardly side returns, Hawk. I''m getting bored of this'' Hawk is proudly bragging about his daughter to Julian, she was accepted to the Terran Interstellar Warfare Academy, one of the most prestigious military academies in the galaxy. Two galaxies. ''How did our previous conversation get derailed?'' Julian thought. As he sipped on the glass of wine, an officer went up to him and handed him a paper. It''s a response from Terra. "Hawk, an important message from Terra," He nudged on Hawk, who has collapsed. "..." "HAWK!" He yelled into his ears. "Y-yes?!!¡° " I got an info message from Terra, here," Julian handed Hawk the paper. "Did they fire me?!¡° said Hawk panicking, clearly his other side took a hold of him. "..." ''At a time like this.. '' "Never mind, get back to your room. Or else.. " "Yes sir!" And with that, Hawk ran to his room. "Fuckin'' bitch," Sighed Julian, "now whatever is your content, dear papyrus" Julian said as he began to read the message from Terra. "... " After a couple minutes of reading the small and tightly packed words, he folded the paper and got up from his seat. And began walking towards the exit. Only to realise he hadn''t paid. He went to the cashier and paid using Hawk''s card. Source? His wallet that he left on the table. Afterwards, he went towards the exit. In the hallway, a guard ran up to him. "Sir Julian!" The guard said. "What is it?" Julian asked. "Sir Yatz told me to get you, he said he found an intruder!" The guard exclaimed. "Yatz? Wait an intruder?!" Julian yelled a bit, he was taken surprised when the guard told him that there was an intruder who managed to infiltrate the Explorer. "Yes! She was found in the engine room!" They both begin to run to the engine room, and when they got there, the entrance to the room was crowded by guards and curious crew members. As Julian managed to get inside the engine room through squeezing the crowded space, he found Ritz. "Ritz! Some guy named Yatz found an intruder, where is it?" Julian said, panting, "also, who the hell is Yatz?" "Yatz is me, it''s my nickname," Told Yatz as he pointed at himself, "also yeah, some poor engineer was performing routine maintenance when he was jump scared by an eldritch being. Turns out, it was just some girl on a maid dress with messy hair, presumably from all the exhaustion. This was realized AFTER the engineer bludgeoned the poor girl on the head." "Wait, so she''s knocked out?" Julian asked. Yatz answered with a simple "yeah." "Unbelievable.. Oh yeah, I got instructions from Terra, here" Julian said as he handed Yatz a folded paper From his pocket. "Hmm?" Yatz took the paper and unfolded it. After reading it, he sighed, and looked at Julian. "Already eh?" Yatz said. "Best of luck, and God bless Humanity" Julian replied as he positioned his military cap. The message read; "Orders from the Ministry of Habitation, Congress has passed a bill to search for a planet/solar system suitable for a permanent human colony and naval base. Use any means necessary to acquire them. Establishing friendly relations with foreign species is to be put as a secondary objective. Godspeed and God bless Humanity." Chapter 8: Arrival in Zenith Zenith, Royal Palace Throne room. "Your majesty, they are almost here," States Aila as she holds a broom. It looks like she was sweeping the floor before this. "Really? I''d better get prepared," exclaimed the Queen who was reading a novel. She got up from her throne and went to her room, "Aila! Help me dress!¡° she orders. "Yes, your majesty" Aila responded as she followed her. At the TSS Explorer. At the cafeteria, Gonzalez sat in his usual place along with Yang, or ''Yatz''. "Well, we''re arriving at Zenith in about¡­ 3 hours, it''s been quite the journey," Yang said. "Should I refer to you as Yang, Ritz, or Yatz? I''m still confused about your name," Gonzalez changed the topic for a moment. ".. Just.. Call me Yang," Yang Answered. "Okay, then what''s up with that maid girl that got bitch slapped?" Gonzalez asked. "Isn''t there a better way to call ''knocked unconscious''? Anyways, she still hasn''t woken up yet," Yang replied. "But she''s alive, yeah?" "She is, yes, " "Then we''ll ask her about this galaxy, the nation states located within it, and the average people''s lives here," Gonzalez suggested to Yang. "Provided that they are educated enough, we don''t want a repeat of Iklor," Yang added, crossing his arms. "Shit, you''re right," Gonzalez clicked his tongue, "speaking of, did you know that Earth was attacked by terrorists?" "Yeah, it happened 3 Terran days ago right?" Yang''s face became serious. It came as shocking news to all on board the explorer, the space elevator at Earth or Terra, whatever you wanna call it, was bombed by presumably Brers rebels. But Yang had guessed that the Anarchists did it, the government probably already knew it as well. In addition to the space elevator, the Terran space station, located in orbit of Terra, housing over 400 million people, was bombed as well. Causing several hundreds billions of dollars in damage. "Yeah, public order is shit back home right now. Riots and protests everywhere," Gonzalez said nonchalantly as he sipped his carbonated soda. "Well, I just hope that my family is safe from the ongoing upheaval," "Same here," Yang hoped that the problems back home would be resolved quickly, so the republic wouldn''t disintegrate. Otherwise, it would be a nightmare. If the third Galactic power were to suddenly disintegrate overnight, it would cause massive irreparable damage to the galaxy. The galactic economy would further collapse, and it would cause wars on the old territories of the republic. Not that the other great powers are in a position to wage wars right now. "That reminds me. Julius, what about the other great powers?¡° Yang asked Julius Gonzalez. ¡° About what?" Gonzalez questioned. "What are their reaction to the bombings?" "As far as I know, indifference," He said as he put down his soda can, "they are in their own crisis right now" "Damn, the war took a toll on everybody didn''t it?" Yang dryly laughed. "No shit, It''s a fuckin 7 millenia long war with pauses in between, of course people are upset, "A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. "Anyways, we''d better look up on that girl," Yang said as he looked at his watch. "Yeah, you''re right," Said Gonzalez as he got up, "Wait, isn''t that watch super expensive?" Yang stood up and said, "it''s a bootleg," With a straight face. * "Where¡­ Am I?" I woke up in a white room, and in a nice bed too. The last thing I remembered was that I escaped the elven ship into the human ship. Then when I was exploring it, I went unconscious for some reason. Humans! They are just like me! We were exiled to the great void for our ''crimes''. Maybe the exiles have returned to exact revenge?! I need to tell the king of humans to save our kind which are still enslaved all over the holy realm! But first, I need to escape and find a way to tell him. I got out of bed and stood straight, dusting off my maid dress. Although the dress is a sign of servitude, I like the design and how it really suits me. I looked around and spotted what seemed to be a door. I went up to it and tried to open it, but It doesn''t seem to open no matter how much I tried. Then I noticed a box with small buttons on the side of the door. They''re numbered 1 to .. 0? Curiously, I slowly pressed them. When I pressed for the fourth time, I got jumped by a voice from somewhere, "access denied" After recovering from the shock, I continued to press the buttons randomly. Until I gave up. Just now I noticed that on top of the small box, there is a flat area which doesn''t do anything. "Why won''t you just open!!" I angrily screamed while pounding at the door. Suddenly, the door opened.. Sideways? It disappeared upwards. I then fell forwards and I expected a pain to appear, but my fall was cushioned by something, no, someone. "Damn, Julius. I wish I were you right now, but fortunately I am a faithful husband" The man standing said. He''s wearing rounded glasses, is he a scholar of some sorts? I dismissed that assumption after seeing his uniform, clearly a military uniform. A white with gray patterns and a coat of arms of a flower. My thoughts were interrupted by someone wiggling in the bottom of me. I quickly stood up after realizing that I was suffocating him. The man groggily stood up, and took heavy breaths. The man is wearing a military uniform also, but with a huge difference. This man is wearing a more formal uniform than the other guy. His uniform is dark blue with a white leggings, he also wears a peaked cap while the other man doesn''t. "Man.. That was rougher than being pummeled by ion cannons." He muttered. "Um.. Hi?" I spoke out to them. "See look I practiced my othergalactic language.. *Ahem*, what is your name?" He asked me. "Dima.." I answered him shyly. I don''t know whether I could trust them at all, they look eerily similar in attitude and the way they dress to the elven nobles who would do horrific things to us.. "Uhh¡­ how did you get in?" He stuttered. The other man looked on to us in amusement. "... I was escaping," "From what?" "..From..everything" * Yang and Gonzalez exited from the infirmary after questioning Dima the maid. They got some very interesting information and disturbing ones as well. ¡°Okay, to recap. This galaxy is called the Holy realm for some reason. There are about 6 major nations.. Or realms.. in the galaxy, the Elven realm, the Beastmen realm, the Demon realm, the Dragon realm, and finally, Utopia.¡± Gonzalez said. ¡°You know, I never expected a religious organization to become the GUN of sorts for this galaxy. With literal gods controlling it¡± said Yang as he corrected his glasses. ¡°Yeah surely that won''t go wrong at all.¡± Gonzalez replied sarcastically. ¡°Also, apparently, Humans are enslaved here.¡± Yang said with a worried expression. ¡°Yeah that would be a problem¡­. For the government! Because our mission here is only to establish diplomatic relations and some wee bit insignificant-ish imperialism.¡± "As if all the problems back home aren''t enough, we have to add another one." "Also, isn''t the GUN reorganized? I heard that a post-war session would commence some time soon" "Yeah, the governments got a lot right now." "Alright, let''s get prepared to meet royalty" * Surface of planet Zenith, capital world of the elven realm. The duo, along with Madelyn and Hawk landed on planet Zenith. After a short descent using a smaller spacecraft, they managed to land safely. Yang wore an army uniform, while Gonzalez wore a more formal captain''s uniform. Both Hawk and Madelyn wore black business suits with a red tie and a polka dot tie respectively. When the doors opened, they were greeted by a crowd of people, and a military band playing music. As they descend from the spacecraft, they are greeted by a regal person befitting royalty, flanked by two people. Hawk notices that this is the queen and shakes hands with her. "Your majesty, we are the Terran delegates. We come in peace, and the milkdromeda galaxy says it''s hello. " While this is happening, someone is watching in a not so far position with a burning hatred. Post-war milkdromeda galaxy The state of the milkdromeda galaxy 11 years after the war for heaven. Note: galactic power doesn''t mean how powerful a nation is, it just shows the oldest and youngest powers to emerge, with the first galactic power being the oldest. The Republic of Terra. The third galactic power, and the second youngest, with only 3 million years as a space faring civilization. Terra suffered the most brutal history one planet has had, requiring its dominant species, the Humans, 8 world wars to unify the world and become a full fledged interstellar civilization. Post-war Terra, unlike many of the other galactic powers, did not descend into civil war. Instead, it faced societal collapse as massive riots occurred across the millions of worlds, and the total collapse of the economy after the outdated autarky economic system failed nearing the end of the war. President Jean Maxwell, who had led the country during the last years of the war, resigned and congress called for elections. The post-war election saw the United Front, a mostly socialist and liberal Party gaining lead in the elections, leaving the mostly conservative Democratic Union far behind. However, when the fragile economy collapsed, the DU overtook the UF and won the election. The DU won 51.1% of votes, and Evelyn McBloom became President. In her 10 years as President, she managed to salvage the economy, and bailed important businesses from bankruptcy and somewhat managed to fix the instability of the Terran Republic, which is far from stable. Her first term ended as the Brers region revolted against the central government. Now in her second term, she must continue with her economic and political reforms. And navigate the hellscape that is Terran politics. The Second Threal Galactic Empire. The first galactic power, a very old empire with a very old species. The first empire stretched from all corners of the galaxy, with aspirations to conquer the whole galaxy, unfortunately, the Hadarians came, then the humans, then the Cosmic Federation. The second empire came into being after the empire retook planet Threalia from the Hadarians in a bloody 120 year war. Post-war Threal wasn¡¯t an ideal place to live in, the current emperor assassinated the previous emperor, who was his older brother, and became emperor. Although the current Emperor has significant support amongst the government, many people in the military thought claiming the throne by assassinating the emperor was unacceptable, and launched a mutiny, which escalated into full blown civil war.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The slaves also rised up, destroying the already fragile Threalian war economy which is dependent on slavery. Although the anti royalist forces seemed like they would win, as they are well trained and well equipped, the anti royalist forces cannot force the empire to surrender, as they lack the space ships to achieve decisive victory. The anti-royalist forces are spread too thin, occupying a planet seems impossible, and it is only a matter of time until imperial forces extinguished them. Emperor Myshasyai inherited an ancient dying empire, currently in a civil war, and when it is over, he will need to reform the empire if it wants to survive the post war era. The Cosmic Federation of Empires. The fourth galactic power. Several races banded together and won independence against the Terran republic who once subjugated them. The federation is a union of several hundreds of civilizations, with more than 3 thousand sentient species living as citizens. Uniting several races under one banner is thought to be impossible by most people, yet they have managed to do it. Of course, the post war federation is engulfed in social tensions, as many took to the streets to riot and loot. Piracy also became rampant once more as the ineffective administration became more and more corrupt and divided. After the previous chancellor was assassinated, and public confidence was at an all time low, the parliament elected Morvam Myeara, a moderate centrist to become chancellor, in hopes of maintaining the status quo. That status quo was shattered when the Borean race revolted against federal rule and urged other races to separate from the federation to create their own nation. The races who attempted to separate were brutally cracked down by the federal army, and the military was sent to crush the Borean revolt. When the economy collapsed, the riots intensified, however this time, the chancellor ordered the military to shoot. This unsurprisingly silenced the rioters and provided stability somewhat to finish off the Boreans. The chancellor has consolidated power, and looks to improve the economy of the federation, as well as centralising power to the federal government. The Hadarian Imperium. The second Galactic power. It is the most militarily powerful empire the galaxy has ever seen. Even after the war, they still boast the most powerful and most funded military. Until the army revolted. Near the final days of the war for heaven, the emperor was overthrown by his sister who was inaugurated the same day as his execution. The new empress, Wyencia the second, was in favor of peace, while the former emperor and most of the military was pro-war. The old emperor''s supporters, mostly from old military officers, revolted against the empress after the empire signed a peace treaty with the galaxy. The young officers who supported the empress consolidated power in the remnants of the loyal military and launched several assaults against the rogue military. All without the knowledge of the empress. The empress, although she has the loyalty of the young officers, does not control the remnants of the imperial military. She relies on the imperial guard, a special unit of the military who answers directly to the empress. She uses them to restore order in her vast empire while the imperial military was killing each other. Due to the closed economic policy of the imperium, the economic collapse felt by the rest of the galaxy was insignificant. The empress must now settle the dispute between the loyal and the rogue military and put them under crown control once more. She also plans to consolidate her own power in the imperium, bringing absolutism back. Chapter 9: A sudden interruption As soon as the Human ship descended, i couldn¡¯t help but marvel at the sleek, white vessel. Aglevis told me that they sent their small sized ship to descend to our world, as the ¡®mothership¡¯ as he called it, was so huge that it would flatten this city. I was flanked by Aila to my right, and Aglevis, who had returned to Zenith ahead the Humans, to my left. I can tell that they both hide their amazement in the stoic faces of theirs. I am wearing a ceremonial dress, worn by my ancestors. While both Aila and Aglevis wore ceremonial military uniforms, with Aglevis wearing a dark green Captain¡¯s uniform, and Aila wearing a royal guard uniform. Both of them were wearing ceremonial military uniforms. With Aila''s uniform belonging to the royal guard, and Aglevis'' belonging to the navy. After a while though, 4 people exited the ship and made their way to us. Two were wearing black business suits, while the other two wore military uniforms, with one being more formal than the other. Possibly belonging to a different branch. The lead one in the group, who is a bit skinny, and has a thin mustache, extended his arms to me, to which I responded by giving a handshake. "Your majesty, we are the Terran delegates. We come in peace, and it is nice to meet you." The man finally said. "Yes, it is my pleasure to finally meet the humans of Terra," I said in response, "perhaps we should go to a more fitting venue?" The man nodded. I escorted them to a carriage that would take them to the fort, and noticed that the more formal wearing officer sent the less formal wearing soldier back to their ship. He then turned to me and smiled. I rode a separate carriage, leading them toward the fort. We began to make our way to the fort and to the meeting room which was prepared a night prior. Upon entering though, the apostle, Miss Ira, was already seated in one of the seats next to my seat. A maid guided the Humans to their seats and I took a seat as well. Aglevis sat to my right, while Ira to my left. Aila stood behind me. After everyone was seated, I stood up and began our introductions.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°First of all, you might already know of me, I am the current Queen of the Elven realm, Merula Zenith. It is my pleasure to have the esteemed diplomats of the Terran Republic who have taken their time to meet with us in person,¡± I said as I bowed slightly. Sitting to the right of me, Aglevis bowed. While, Ira and Aila remained stoic. "You''ve met Sir Aglevis before, he is the one I tasked to escort your ship and guide it to our world," I said, "And this is Miss Ira, an apostle to the Goddess Lady Terra." I introduced Aglevis and Ira to the Humans. I finished my introductions and it is their turn now. I''m not gonna lie, but I''ve been waiting for this moment since the Humans agreed to send a diplomatic mission to us. It''s fascinating on how life could prosper outside the holy realm. And more fascinating is the fact that there are humans in the great void! The man with the thin mustache stood up and bowed, "It is our greatest pleasure to meet you, your majesty. Our president sends her greetings, it is a shame that she could not join us here," He said as he looked around the room, "I am Ambassador George Hawk, the one heading this diplomatic mission, along with Miss Madelyn and Sir Gonzalez," So he''s the leader of this diplomatic mission huh? Though there are a lot of questions on which I''d like to get answers, we need to remain professional and proceed slowly. "We also brought a gift for your majesty," The ambassador said as he gestured to the horned girl for something, soon he walked up to me and showed a small wooden box. How could I say this? The box was clean, it had the words ''MADE ON EARTH'' in small letters in the bottom right of the lid. He pulled the lid open to reveal a small form of musket. However, it is unlikely to be a musket, as it is made out of metal and ornate gold. It has the words ''ZENITH'' engraved in its barrel. "This is a gift from our civilization to yours, your majesty. We hope you liked it, "he said. "I have a question," I looked up at him, "what is this?" I asked. "This is a ceremonial Pistol made especially on Terra, we usually gift them to other heads of state." The ambassador replied. "What is a pistol-" I asked again before the doors burst open. "Your majesty!" Said a voice coming from the door. Aila quickly stood beside me, ready to protect me with all her strength. While Ira became wide eyed, and took out her weapon. The humans meanwhile, we''re just standing there looking at the direction of the door. After I recollected myself, I looked at the person who stormed here only to find the ambassador of the beastmen realm angrily eyeing the human ambassador. "Your majesty! You must arrest these animals! They are about to manipulate you!" The beastmen said.