"What happened?" Everal, who was in a secure location on a different planet, asked with a gloomy expression when all the monitors he had were disconnected.
His personal secretary, a busty woman with black rimmed glasses and golden hair ties up in a bun looked was busy searching on a holographic tablet.
"I do not know, Sir. All communications with the planet have been cut off and I am unable to reconnect."
"What did he do?" Everal asked himself with a pondering expression, not expecting anyone to answer.
After several hours of searching for information but to no avail, the very first news report appeared.
"Sir Argentear!" The secretary raised her brows and hurried transferred the broadcast to a large screen on the wall.
[Zenise here from InterGal Today, bringing the latest news of a tragedy. The planet known as Eridon II cut off all communications several hours ago, including all of our local contacts.]
[Not long ago, the internet began to be flooded with videos from the group claiming responsibility for what has been determined at the mass extinction of a planet.]
The host, Zenise, had puffy red eyes as she shed a tear, displaying her sorrow for the massive loss of life on the planet. How sincere those tears were and how much was for gaining empathy from the audience however was highly debatable though.
[The group known as the Celestials claimed that an individual who had spied on their group and redistributed confidential information was residing on this planet, planning to make hostile actions against them.]
[The following footage will be uncensored, so please change the channel if you don't wish to see… this… tragedy.]
Zenise's hair that was floating as if she was underwater began to sink down as she cried large water droplet tears.
The screen then changed to the viewpoint of the camera drone Ivan had planted before the attack. It displayed the Kraken emerge from subspace, suddenly appearing in the surface universe where nothing existed previously. Following that was the resultant attack and cataclysmic devastation to the planet.
The number one searched article on the galactic web became "Celestials" the very next instant.
Everal looked at the footage wide-eyed and declared, "This is simply a declaration of war! What is this madman thinking!? No, what the hell is that weapon!? Those old badgers in the Parliament must be in an uproar at the moment.
*****
"What do we do about this?" Speaker Ulton in the Andromeda Federation Parliamentary House spoke as if the extinction of a planet didn't affect them.
One of the younger politicians thumbed his brow as he stated, "This came immediately after that information packet on the Celestials was sent to us, I have only just finished scanning through it."
Several other politicians nodded their heads and stated, "We must have this technology. They can't hoard it and should share it with the rest of the human race."
While everyone in the room added on how they should contribute to the human race, these words were completely hypocritical as everyone wanted it for themselves. They even suspected who had already known about this information and were acting in the shadows.
"We can't just go and take it though. This action of theirs was a blatant threat toward us. He has weaponry we have every right to fear, and has showed us that he is willing to use it."
"What are you idiots talking about, we have a HDS throughout all our important core solar systems."
"The Eridon solar system had a HDS. Have you not read the information we all received? They are moving through subspace, not hyperspace."
"What does it matter which kind of space it is-"
"Can someone get some scientists or something in here to educate these idiots?" One politician shouted at several secretaries as the room divulged into chaos.
Despite half the people shouting about their own opinions, the others had already gathered into small groups contemplating joint actions and how they would benefit them. The was however a small number of individuals who sat away from everyone else with a sense of dread toward these Celestials, even more so the more they read their intelligence reports on them.
*****
[As you can see, the Andromeda Parliament has issued a united condemnation to the group known as Celestials and vows to exhaust all of its resources to bring these people to justice.]
Ivan watched the press conference being spread over the galactic web by the media and snorted in disdain.
"Ridiculous, they care more about beating the corporations in terraforming and rebranding the planet, making money off the now vacant and unowned land."
"What will they do next?" Iris asked curiously as she watched the same press conference video.
"Hard to say, I'm not a mind reader nor do I know what the future entails. I can say that they will send a probe though. I just don't know how they will do so."
"So what is our next plan?"
"Bide our time, increase our forces and business scale. Stay alert and wait to see what they do next. I also want to try scout some medical talents from the Galaxy."
*****
At the same time as Ivan and the others were returning to CTHQ in the Kraken, a secretive meeting which would change the entire Vulpes history and was completely unprecedented was taking place.
"King Lair, King Astotle, Queen Ethrein, you understand that by making the journey here, I shouldn't let you return, right?" King Margold looked at the two kings and one queen sitting across the table from him.
The three leaders of Empires were downcast and had a diminished presence, while King Margold sat at the head of the table like an indominable existence. The transformation into becoming a Celestial had greatly intimidated these foreign rulers into a passive attitude.
When the plan for the Folkien Empire to become the new Celestials was put into action, the empire ceased its efforts into invading their countries and only a few fell during the initial period. Even though they stopped pressing outwards, the countries currently surrounding the Folkien Empire were incredibly nervous, treated the Folkien Vulpes as a knife behind their backs that could fall upon them at any moment.
"Sigh, King Margod, we came here today, because we want to discuss our terms of surrender. Our countries can't take anymore pressure and it is about to collapse. The kingdoms on our other borders have taken advantage of our predicament and we've already lost thirty percent of out land."
"King Margold," Queen Ethrein lowered hersend to her knees before knowtowing to King Margold, "please accept our surrender. We need your protection; those countries would never dare attack us if we are under your umbrella."
King Margold had a pondering expression, but Queen Sherell appeared and whispered a few words into his ear that his children were throwing a tantrum in the streets, causing him to have a dark expression which frightened the other representative.
"Very well," King Margold stood up and emitted a presence that caused the other representative to feel faint. "I will accept your surrender! The terms are the complete stripping of power from your royal and noble households, along with a full migration. You will integrate into our kingdom and become a part of it, including changing your identities into that of Folkien citizens."
The defeated representatives could only nod their heads like chickens feeding.
"As long as we can have our freedom."
King Margold sighed and said, "You know how this world works. It will take time, perhaps even a decade or longer."
It wasn't just the Folkien empire that experienced the change in the two century old war. Countries all over the Vulpes home world were pulling back armies and forming alliances. It was completely unheard of between countries who would tear each other's throats out at the first opportunity they got.
What wasn't noticed however were discreet infiltrations by spies in these countries from outside of the Galaxy. The Celestial subspace ships protecting the Vulpes home world had to periodically fight off pirates seeking riches and slaves, but what wasn't noticed was the various orbital drops covered in an optical illusion to make them nearly invisible, each carrying spies or equipment down to the surface of the Vulpes home world.