I found myself back in the infinite darkness, my body floating alone in the abyss.
{CONGRATULATIONS!} the voice of the abyss, now sounding distinctly female cheered
'What the fuck? How did I get here?' I said. 'What's going on?'
{Well, you died again.}
'Again?' I groaned
{Yes, you seem to do that a lot… but before that, you activated your Prime Crest! You're a fully recognized Regis now! Well done!}
'What? How did I do that?'
{Mana. Since you turned from a fae to an omen before the initial installation process for your crest could be completed, your crest developed a malfunction due to the mana deficiency, and since you kept evolving and altering yourself, your crest just kept restarting the re-calibration process to fix the issue. But having a whole planet's worth of mana blow up in your face allowed for a complete reboot, now your crest has been properly calibrated to accommodate and compensate for your frequent genetic re-sequencing. Hence congratulations are in order, the process has now been completed, Regis.}
'So that's it?' I asked
{Almost. There's still one last thing required from you.} the voice said
'Of course there is,' I groaned, 'what do I have to do now?'
Before me, a bright red screen appeared and a message was written out in bold text;
[IO FACTOR STABILIZED! CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE MET THE NECESSARY CONDITIONS! ACCESSING FULL CAPABILITIES OF THE REGIS COMMAND SYSTEM!]
All of a sudden, the black nothingness turned into a sterile white room. At the far end of the room sat a white throne.
[WELCOME TO THE PANTHEON!] the voice said, but it was now in a strange language, one I understood perfectly. [YOU, NYA CRIMSON, ARE THE PIONEER HOST OF PRIME CORE UNIT: WΣΘ-ZK813Δ0.]
I suddenly found myself sitting on the throne, and my prime crest hovered in the air in front of me, like a screen. [AS SUCH, YOU HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF REGISTERING A TITLE FOR YOUR CORE AVATAR. THIS TITLE WILL BE PERMANENTLY CATALOGED INTO PANTHEON RECORDS FOR FUTURE REGIS OF YOUR LINE. WHAT TITLE DO YOU CHOOSE?]
I figured it was asking me to name it, and I don't know why, but as I sat there, I suddenly remembered an old legend from my past life, about a once and future king, and the great sage that stood by his side. That's what this Prime would be for me, a great sage, just like in the story.
[CONFIRMED! TITLE –MERLIN– HAS BEEN ACCEPTED. *ERROR* OVERRIDING CORE PERSONA TEMPLATE… LOADING NEW PROFILE. SUCCESS. PSYCHE SYNCHRONIZATION COMPLETE. WELCOME, REGIS NYA CRIMSON!]
Then, the window changed;
[SUMMARY]
Name: Nya Crimson
Age: 20
Condition: …PENDING…
Titles: REGIS; Strategist; Blood Angel;
Classification: Omen
Species: Vampire-based hybrid
Rank: N/A
Phantasm: Blood Aura (unlimited evolution from life matter)
[REGIS COMMAND SYSTEM]
Prime: Merlin
Caste: Warrior
Court Members: 0
Origins Claimed: 0
Sanctuary: N/A
Divine Sanction: N/A
Alliances: N/A
[ALERT: CONNECTION TO PANTHEON ESTABLISHED! BEGINNING APOTHEOSIS… *ERROR* LATENT CAPABILITIES SURPASS CURRENT LIMITERS! CONTROL CIRCUITS UPGRARADED TO COMPENSATE!]
[ALERT: ALTERNATE SPACE [CRIMSON VOID] HAS BEEN RECLASSIFIED AS A 'DIVINE SANCTION'! MANIFESTING ONTOKINETIC GATEWAY [GATES OF PURGATORY] COMPLETE!]
* * *
Nya woke up in a comfortable bed in a dark room, and she could sense there was no one else around. She tried to sit up, only to discover she couldn't feel her right arm, looking down revealed she didn't have a right arm anymore; it was gone completely, just a stump at her shoulder.
She sat in silence for a few moments to come to terms with that she just discovered, allowing herself a few tears of grief before she, steeled herself and continued to survey her accommodations.
She was naked under the covers of the bed and covered in bandages. Curiously, she could sense the flow of mana around the room.
Before she could do anymore solo investigation, the door opened. Armed with knowledge she didn't previously have, she held out her only remaining hand, and the lamp on her nightstand flew into it. As she readied herself for a fight, Terror came inside.
"Nya? You're awake!" he smothered her in a hug
"Wha? Terror? What's going on?"
"We won. After you killed the World Lord and destroyed the transmitter, the military surrendered. We found you in the remains of the throne room, barely alive and moved you here to recover."
"How long have I been out?"
"About a two and a half months." He replied,
"What? Then where are we?" she asked, "still on Draxia Urma?"
"Yeah," Terror replied with a shrug, "most of the planet was in a bad shape for the first few weeks after the revolt. Reconstruction is already underway but lot of key infrastructural systems are still not fully operational, we only just got the star port up and running again. Everyone want everything ready for the new World Lord."
"A new World Lord?" Nya groaned, "Great, who's this new asshole?"
Terror chuckled, "Don't you know? It's you. You're the new World Lord of Draxia Urma."
Nya just stared blankly at him, "What?"
* * *
After getting quickly dressed in some underwear and a lavish robe, Terror led Nya outside her bedroom. They were in the World Lord's palace, and it appeared as though they had given her the only room that was still fully intact.
Construction workers filled the corridors as they fixed cracks in the walls and replaced broken windows. Maids and servants busied themselves, cleaning up the debris. A few laid eyes on Nya and Terror as they walked and seemed surprised to see their new World Lord in a robe, they bowed or prostrated themselves, wishing her all sorts of greetings. She even saw that one soldier she let live, who waved at her. It was weird.
"So what happened after I blew up?" Nya asked
"Well, after the military surrendered, things were in a bit of a mess," Terror explained, "then there was the psychic shockwave, everyone felt it and I knew it could only be you, so we came to the palace. It seemed that whatever you did, temporarily got everyone on the same page. A few of us met with the ministers to talk about stabilizing the planet and waiting for you to wake up before we make any big decisions."
"The omen are working with the ministers?"
"It's strange times indeed. But they all said that since you killed the previous World Lord and were found on the remains of his throne, you had successfully usurped the position from him –some weird ancient custom on this world. They don't all seem to like the idea of you in charge, but at least they're still helping for now."
"And what's the situation with the omen?"
"They're sort of staying in refugee camps until we can get the planetary situation sorted, everything got pretty jacked when we staged a revolt." Terror explained, "Right now, we're having a meeting between the ministers of last World Lord and the lieutenants of the omen. Luckily, you woke up just in time."
"Okay," Nya said, "So, I'm the new World Lord? I still don't believe this." They got to a door at the end of the hall and Nya instinctively tried to reach for it with her right hand, before remembering.
"Sorry about the arm," Terror said softly, "The doctors said that the flesh around the shoulder is too irradiated with mana for them to think about prosthetics, they'll need to cut it away and start from your torso."
"No," Nya said defiantly, "I'm not losing any more of myself. I evolve constantly, this is just another kind of change, I'll get used to it." She then grabbed the door handle with her left hand, it felt awkward, but she could learn to adapt.
The door opened and they walked into a sort of meeting room, there was a long table with three different groups opposite each other; the ministers were on one side of the table, the omen lieutenants were on the other, and the royal guards stood around the head of the table. When the door opened, all eyes turned to Nya and Terror
"So, you've awoken?" said the captain of the royal guard as she glared at Nya
"You're back from the island?" Nya observed. During their fight, she had warped all the royal guard to an isolated island she remembered seeing on their way to the capital city. It was some ways away from the mainland and seemed pretty uninhabited. "how was your stay?"
The woman tried to charge her, but Kiva stopped her, "Hey, she just woke up, Amara, we don't want to start something now," the two of them seemed closer to Nya, especially with how Amara seemed to calm down.
"She's now handicapped, I'm sure I could take her." Amara growled
"Please, even without my right arm I could still kick your ass," Nya boasted.
"Alright, enough hostility," Terror said, "The new World Lord is here and this meeting will commence."
Nya took her seat at the head of the table, looking down at both the ministers and the omen,
"So, what seems to be the problem?" she asks
Immediately they erupt in complaint and arguments, each side blaming the other for something.
"SILENCE!" she yells, her voice booming through the meeting room and stealing the voices from every one of them. "We are going to discuss this like civilized adults. I am aware that right now the planet has gone to shit, and that's partially my fault, but it was already pretty shitty when I got here. So we're going to fix that, together, then we're gonna make some changes. Anyone of you that doesn't like the sound of that should leave the room now, while we're still being civil."
Of the dozen ministers present, four of them got up and walked out of the room, six of the seventeen omen present also took their leave. Surprisingly to Nya, none of the royal guard left. Once, all those who wanted no part of the meeting left, she addressed the ones left.
"Wow, that went better than I imagined." Nya sighed contentedly, "Now that we've gotten rid of the dead weight, let's get started."
* * *
Dezrrit Kahl was one of the ministers who left the meeting, had already made arrangements in advance, now he was on his personal space shuttle, leaving the planet's orbit. With him, were three of his assistants, the researchers that were studying the DNA samples of Nya Crimson, harvested during her internment at the department of research and development. Having seen what she was capable of first hand, he regarded the samples currently in his possession as a holy artifact, and he already had investors waiting to see what his bio-weapon research could achieve. He was about to alter the balance of power in Hyperion forever. He offered one last thanks to the new World Lord as he departed his home, thanks to her, his life would never be the same.
* * *
Nya had been officially the World Lord for several months, and they had been the busiest of her current life.
She was in her office, going over proposals and other documents, an act made that much harder with use of just one arm, when there was a knocking at the door.
"Come in," she said, as the door opened and Terror stepped in.
"Hey," Terror said, "Haven't seen you in a while."
"Been busy," Nya replies, waving the document in her hand around. "My god, who knew being a World Lord involved so much paperwork?"
"Um…" a small voice spoke
Nya looked up to see Kiva was in the office as well.
"Kiva? I'd have thought you'd be gone by now. Don't want your mother finding you."
"You know about that?" she said, rubbing her elbow and lowering her head
"When I killed the last World Lord, I absorbed him completely. All his memories are all up here." The tapped on her temple,
"Whoa, seriously" Terror gawked at the news, "so you have all the knowledge of everyone you've ever killed?"
"Bits and pieces mostly, if I concentrated, I could possibly rebuild his consciousness, but for now he's just a bunch of random unorganized memories bouncing around in my head."
"Okay," Kiva said awkwardly
"So, how goes the whole Regis thing?" Terror broke the silence by asking
"Oh, everything's working as it should now, watch," Nya out stretched her hand and all the documents on her desk floated in the air and organized themselves into two piles.
"Psychokinesis?" Kiva demanded
"Yeah, apparently that's something Regis are just able to do." Nya shrugged,
"That explains what I've been sensing from you lately," Kiva muttered to herself. Nya's presence had changed ever since she had woken up, it was still tyrannically off-putting, but it now had a potency to it that reminded her more like her mother's.
"It's one of the benefits of the being a Regis," Nya answered
"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that," Terror said, "I've been thinking a lot about this 'knighting' thing you told me about, and I think I'm ready."
"But you just got engaged to Mira, are you sure?" Nya asked
"Yes," Terror answered, "Nya, I've known you the longest, and if there's one thing I know for sure, it's that there is no one else here who will be able to keep up with you."
"Alright then, kneel," Nya said, she'd discussed with Merlin the process of knighting someone; anointing them with her power and making them her subordinate.
Terror took a knee and Nya stood in front of him, "Terrance Quinn. You have shown your resolve to stay by my side, on my authority as Regis, I name you as my knight, Terror."
As she spoke, she placed her hand on his head, and her hand glowed with a soft red light, Nya could feel part of her power flow into him and she stepped back.
"Congratulations, Terror," Nya said with a grin., "you are now my right hand."
"You've been dying to say that haven't you?" he teased
"Only a little bit," she smirked
An alert appeared that both Nya and Terror could see, projecting a window into their minds;
[ALERT: YOU HAVE JUST CONTRACTED [TERROR QUINN] TO BE A MEMBER OF YOUR COURT! HE HAS MET CERTAIN CONDITIONS TO BE APPOINTED AS A PALADIN! HE HAS VOWED TO SHARE YOUR FATE AND CAN NOW BE NAMED YOUR SUCCESSOR!]
Terror stood up, flexing his arms, "is this how you feel all the time?"
"No," Nya said, "Sometimes I feel really strong."
"C-can you knight me, too?" Kiva asked. Her question stunned both Nya and Terror,
"Why?" Nya asked
"I've been on the run for a century, and I'm tired." Kiva explained, "The two of you are basically the closest things I've had to friends in several hundred years and I don't want to lose that. You've both committed to staying here, so I will too."
"Alright, kneel," Nya said
Kiva took a knee before Nya as she repeated the process. At the end, the same thing happened for her and she rose, feeling a dozen times more powerful than she was when the day began. A message appeared in both their minds
[ALERT: YOU HAVE JUST CONTRACTED [KIVA WEREN] TO BE A MEMBER OF YOUR COURT! SHE HAS MET CERTAIN CONDITIONS TO BE APPOINTED AS A SAGE! SHE HAS VOWED TO SHARE YOUR FATE AND CAN NOW BE NAMED YOUR SUCCESSOR!]
As Terror and Kiva both marveled at their new-found power, they heard a voice,
[So, you've finally made knights?] Merlin said, [It's about time.]
"Who was that?" Kiva demanded, shocked by the sudden voice.
"That's Merlin, my Prime." Nya explained, "as my knights, you are now connected to her as well."
On Terror's arm and Kiva's side, a red seal just appeared,
"Now that the two of you are in the fold, we need have a discussion." Nya said.
A map of Hyperion was projected in the air above her desk, it was the same map she and Terror had looked at long ago.
"All those dots are under the control of the other Regis in Hyperion." Nya explained
"That's the symbol for the Holy Alfheim Theocracy," Kiva said, pointing to a cluster of green icons in the top right corner of the map,
"Figures my mother would be involved in something like this." Kiva said folding her arms and huffing.
"Will being an opposing force be a problem?" Terror asked with a raised eyebrow
"No, quite the opposite. If it means we get to fuck her over, I'm all for it." Kiva said
"Alright, well it looks like the Theocracy is quite a force to be reckoned with, probably in possession of more than a few origins of their own." Nya said examining the map, "however, our objective, is out here,"
The map zoomed in to a region of space far out of Hyperion space, "According to Merlin, there is an origin there."
[Not just any origin, it's an incredibly powerful one. Our only advantage is that I'm currently the only Prime who knows of its location.] Merlin said
"Why is that?"
[I can't say… most of my memories before I encountered Nya are scrambled, maybe this mystery origin would be the key to unlocking it.]
"That's way out of Hyperion space. Most people stopped exploring that far out after the 3rd Adept Crusade, about a million years ago, when the cosmos as we know it was first stabilized." Kiva explained.
"So that's where we're going?" Terror said, "but you said it yourself, there are hundreds of undiscovered origin right here in Hyperion, like that thing World Lord Davos used to power his transmitter."
"You mean this?" Nya said, pulling a large prism from her desk. It was a twenty sided prism and was as large a ball. The surface was dull and cracked and every now and then, a spark of mana was escape it, "It's busted, and it's not an origin. It's just a really advanced piece of magitek."
"To get that far we're gonna need a ship with some serious hyperspace capabilities." Kiva said
"Yeah, the World Lord already had plans for a grand fleet, but that's gonna have to go on the back-burner until we can stabilize the homeworld." Nya said, "I have some plans and I want your opinion."
"Whatever you need." Terror said
"Good," Nya said as the projection changed
* * *
The overhaul of an entire planet was truly a daunting challenge, luckily, Nya Crimson proved up to the challenge. The first thing she had to do was to isolate the planet, restricting access, and cutting off all import and export from the planet, then effectively placing the world under marshal law. Once that was achieved, the real work could begin.
She started by focusing on the reconstruction and reestablishment of global infrastructure. Josa Davos had been prioritized the strengthening of his military as well as the mythril mines and refinery, so she redistributed assets and resources towards the rebuilding effort. It was time consuming, but the architects, builders and engineers of Draxia Urma were beyond exceptional and within a few short years, they were finalizing their plans for the global infrastructural network, bringing power, water, and other essential facilities to all corners of the planet. Restoring transportation, education and healthcare was simultaneously accomplished at the same time.
Next came the people, Josa Davos had kept them docile thanks to the psychic field, and those who would resist his influence or question his rule were imprisoned or reeducated, so she had to make a lot of public appearance to foster a trust between the people and the government she was trying to create. She abolished all omen camps and reeducation centers, as well as forbidding the segregation of omen and launching a propaganda campaign promoting equal citizenship to all omen and fae on the planet, giving all access to the same rights and civil liberties that her government offered.
In order to maintain social hierarchy, she established and implemented a tier-based caste system, awarding those with essential skills, knowledge and expertise with special amenities and privileges that went with the higher tiers of citizenship, however, the highest tiers were reserved only for key governmental officials and executives. She did this because she had been getting a lot of donations from wealthy patrons seeking special considerations and benefits.
She drafted a constitution that would serves as the framework for the policies and systems that made up the different branches of the government. She also dismantled the autocratic system that put the World Lord as the absolute power and established an oligarchy run by a congress of elected officials known as the High Order, with a chosen chief representative from among them known as the Primark, who served as the first among equals and de facto head of state.
Before the High Order came into power, the last act Nya ordained as World Lord, was to rename the planet to 'Avalon'.
An endeavor of this magnitude would've normally taken several decades to accomplish, but through sheer will, determination, brute force, and more than a little intimidation, Nya had pushed it through in under a single decade.
The new nation of Avalon was a budding ecumenopolis, a global city-state that had infinite potential for growth. The whole planet hummed like a well-oiled machine under the administration of the High Order.
Nya then turned her focus to the military might that Josa Davos had amassed during his regime, consolidating all of the World Lord's armies into a centralized military institution she named Cerberus, which consisted of three branches that controlled and oversaw Avalon's military apparatus; Ground Command, Air Command, and Star Command. Each branch of the military fell under the command of a Marshal, and the three branches were overseen and coordinated under Cerberus HQ. Nya also appointed herself as Grand Marshal, a special rank that awarded her exigency power over both the government and the military. It essentially gave her the exact same authority as a World Lord, but only in certain situations.
Now, after about a decade since she first arrived, the planet had developed and prospered into a shining ecumenopolis. Nya was in a training hall at Cerberus Central Command Headquarters, facing off against seven women. They were all dressed in similar training attire.
"Whenever you're ready, ladies," Nya said as she waited on the sparring mat.
The seven of them attacked without hesitation, executing practiced maneuvers and well-trained formations. To any spectator, it would be like watching seven elite soldiers attacked a one-armed opponent, but Nya was keeping up against them.
She had suggested these regular sparring matches when she was still World Lord, as a form of physical therapy to get her used to her handicap. These women were part of the Jaeger corps, a special operations unit created from the former royal guard of World Lord Josa Davos, and were now under the direct control of the Grand Marshal, Nya Crimson. Under Nya's command, they were retrained into the most elite tactical squad within the nation of Avalon, able to undertake a number of covert operations. Because of their dedicated service to the Grand Marshal, they had even been nicknamed her Red Right Hand among the members of governments.
At first, the members of the unit had their misgivings about serving under Nya Crimson; they didn't like her and they didn't trust her, in fact, they wanted her dead and weren't afraid to tell her so, but, through the course of their retraining and the subsequent missions that they had gone on afterwards, they had slowly developed a level of professional respect for the one-armed monster as their military commander.
As Nya was thrown to the ground, she rolled onto her back, breathing hard, looking up at Amara, the Lieutenant General of the Jaegers, offering her hand,
"Need a hand?" Amara asked, offering her lower left arm.
"You never get tired of saying that?" Nya said as she grabbed the limb to hoist herself up. "I am your boss,"
"Only officially," Amara said, the two of them had a mutual respect for each other, especially since Amara started a relationship with Kiva.
"Looks like you beat me again," Nya sighed, wiping her forehead with a towel
"Only because we outnumbered you seven-to-one and you were only using melee attacks."
"I need to work on my martial arts," Nya concluded.
It was at that moment that Terror entered the training hall,
"Hey," he greeted with his usual grin,
"Commander General Quinn." Amara saluted, while the other Jaegers stood at attention.
He was dressed in a simple black and blue military officer's uniform, on the sleeve of his coat was the emblem of Cerberus Command, a three-headed wolf. After the work he had done with the RARF, Terror was recognized for his talent in organizing and strategy, and so, was appointed as the head of Cerberus Central Command that coordinated and oversaw the operations of the three branches.
"What's the matter?" Nya asked
"The High Order is calling an assembly today," Terror said, "The Primark is expected to be present."
"Acting Primark," Nya corrected, "As the Grand Marshal, I'm only filling in until someone is officially appointed,"
"Why don't you just appoint someone then?" Terror asked once again,
"I can't unanimously do it by myself, it has to be decided by the members of the High Order," Nya reminded him
"Then tell them that," Terror retorted, "most of them seem keen to let you take on the role, which is why they're all waiting for you."
"Alright, I'll be right over." Nya sighed, "How's the wife?"
"Mari is doing fine, taking time off the High Order for maternity leave hasn't discouraged her work ethic," Terror chuckled, "She's still going to be attending this meeting."
"Well, I guess I better go get changed," Nya said
"Us too," Amara said, "We're going headhunting from the Cerberus recruits,"
"Maybe I should just compile a list for you?" Terror sighed, "that way you can stop stealing all the promising young cadets."
"No thanks," Amara said, "we like taking them by surprise."
"Oh, you and Kiva should stop by the house for dinner, Mari has been nagging me to invited you two."
"I'll have to talk with Kiva when she's not busy heading the Mage Tower." Amara said, she and Kiva had been dating officially for a little under three years now. Kiva had set up the Mage Tower, the institute of magecraft, to give formal training to all of Avalon's adept population.
An hour later, they were in the Throne of Valor, the former World Lord's palace, now converted into the world government headquarters, and the seat of power within Avalon. The building was ironically shaped like a giant throne, hence the name.
In the square before the impressive building was the massive statue of a knight brandishing a broadsword surrounded by stone monoliths inscribed with the names of all those who died in the revolutionary war years ago. Inside, was abuzz with activity, as government officials mulled about the different offices and the halls were decorated with salvaged paintings and statues of past leaders and heroes of the planet's past.
The old throne room had been converted into a grand meeting hall, which held a massive round table, a dozen feet in diameter, where the twenty-one members of the High Order led the global nation of Avalon. Above the table was a holographic banner emblazoned with the standard of Avalon,
As Grand Marshal, Nya was only an honorary member of the council, but as acting Primark, she had to be present for all meetings. She sat between two familiar faces, Kiva, who was a representative for the Mage Tower, and Mari, who was present via hologram communication. Terror sat as the representative of Cerberus Command, he was essentially the secretary of defense, but was currently serving under Nya, and was seated at one of the spectator seats for the counselors and other officials below the High Order, along with Amara.
"Greetings," Nya addressed the council and the others. "Why are we here?"
Councilman Tao, of the Industrial Ministry spoke up, "I just got word from our lunar industrial shipyard; the fleet is finished."
On the table, a hologram of twenty starships appeared. They had long bottle-shaped frames, with solar-sails along either sides of the ship and four large engine modules at the rear of the ship. They were red and white, with swept fins, and had the Avalon emblem emblazoned on their hull.
Everyone gawked at the ships. The construction of hyperspace-capable starships had been in the works for years, constantly being stymied by budget cuts, as funds were relocated to more urgent faculties. Nya seemed the most excited about this.
"So, how soon till they're ready to cast off?" Nya asked. She had been the most avid supporter of the construction of the starships and even had one named after her.
"Not for a few months, at least eight, I'm afraid," councilman Tao said, "They are still brand new and need to be properly diagnosed, final safety checks and last minute modifications would need to implemented before we start selecting crews."
"You want a functionality check? Fine, let me take one of those ships out for a few months." Nya said.
"I second that," Terror said, knowing how much this meant to Nya, "I don't think anyone else is more qualified, this program was her dream."
"It's too dangerous," councilman Tao objected, "the Grand Marshal is our Primark, essentially the leader of our nation, we can't send her on a dangerous mission such as this."
"Are you doubting the capabilities of your own engineers?" Nya asked
"No, but who knows what could happen? We haven't even started training pathfinders and we need to establish safety protocols before they can cast off." Tao insisted
"Alright, let's put it to a vote." Nya said, "I know I can go out and come back with no problem, but all in favor of having me lead a pioneer crew to test our new ships?"
The council vote came to a close head with twelve against and nine for. The motion was denied, much to her dismay.
"Alright, the next item on our agenda is the construction of the new orbital defense platforms, submitted by the office of the Grand Marshal," Nya said.
"Do you believe it is important?" a council member asked
"Yes, when I closed all imports and exports in order to strengthen our economy, that ruffled some feather. World Lord Davos was providing 60% of the mythril mined here to his off-world benefactor. It's been about ten years that benefactor has kept silent, and I don't think they'll maintain that silence for much longer."
"Do you think they will launch an incursion?" Mari asked
"They provided the previous World Lord with magitek powerful enough to give him control of the entire planet, they obviously have vast wealth and resources, I don't think they'd appreciate treating a lowly world government like us as equals just because." Nya said, "Avalon contains a rich concentration of mythril, that makes it valuable, and if you were this benefactor, you don't just leave something valuable on its own for anyone to take. They will be coming, sooner or later."
"I agree," Kiva said, "this planet has a very strong mana presence, if the elves were aware of its existence, they would've already come to conquer it. Just because this benefactor hasn't come yet, doesn't mean they won't be preparing to take it by force."
"Mobilizing Cerberus Command sounds like a bit of an overreaction at this point, although it is a candid option," Mari said, "I'm in favor of this orbital defense platforms."
The other council-members were also in favor.
"Alright, well, construction is already underway," Nya said, "I feel having twelve is satisfactory to our planetary defense."
"Very well, Grand Marshal," Tao affirmed as he got up and left the hall.
"Any other item on the agenda?" Nya asked.
* * *
After the meeting, Nya was in her office, going over reports, when her Prime spoke in her mind,
[It isn't like you to be so compliant with a decision that you are against.] Merlin noted,
"Yeah, well, I wrote the constitution. I can't very well just defy it." Nya said, "Not publicly, anyway."
[So you are going to wait, leaving the origin still out there, unclaimed?]
"Of course not, I'm going to hijack a ship and take it for a test run myself." Nya said, "As the Grand Marshal, I can pull it off."
A knock on the door attracted her attention as Amara and Kiva both walked into the office.
"What can I do for you two?" Nya asked
"We know you're going to steal one of those ships and go off anyway," Amara said, "Kiva told me about the origin you're looking for."
Nya looked at Kiva accusingly,
"What? She's trained to extract information out of people," Kiva shrugged, "And it's not like you wouldn't have told her eventually."
"Alright," Nya sighed, "so what if I am?"
"You'll need a crew," Amara said, "And you can't go to Commander General Quinn, since his wife was against this and you wouldn't want to incriminate him."
"You're right," Nya said,
"So use the Jaegers," Amara suggested, "We answer directly to you and some of the new recruits could use a live mission."
"It could work." Kiva said, "And you'll need me, as an astropath, to be your pathfinder."
"That could be helpful," Nya mused, considering it.
"So, Grand Marshal, your orders?" Amara said, standing at attention.
"Alright, Lt. General Amara, prep your Jaegers. We move out tonight." Nya ordered