Sankara minds drift to the thought of the humanoid aliens he might see on earth, he wonders if there could a lot of 'mutual exchanges.' He drifts so much into the thought that he says out loud, "Mutual exchange."
Jon thought the lord was trying to tell him something rushes over with the bottle of dark liquor in his hand, pour a glass, and saying, "Mutual exchange my lord?"
Sankara, to dodge the question, takes a sip of the liquor. He immediately catches his reflux, forcing it down before trying to wash away the burning with water. He then signals Halil Pasha to continue.
Halil Pasha is smiling but would never dare to laugh in his face. "My Lord on the Galactic front. The Grand Bazar has given your Lordship one month to stop the attacks on Tri-Galactic citizens. Or rather, there is only one month left on the warning sent from The Grand Bazar according to the last census in the report. The earth is host to over seventeen humanoid species. Most of them are actually the descendants of alien abductees before the formation of the Realm. We are currently in talks to align ourselves with the Grand Bazar in order to gain full membership. However, in the almost three thousand years of the empire, we are not a step closer than the achievement of the third."
Sankara searches what few references he has on the MilkyWay Grand Bazaar. "I thought they are neutral. Why would they intervene now?" The short stream burst from Jon, on his favorite alien organization. Lets Sankara know that the Grand Bazaar is an organization spanning three universes.
"My Lord, as part of our admission, social integration is mandatory as it allows for easy inclusion in the later stages, or so we have been told. The aliens are our responsibility, however, as they are all citizens of Grand Bazaar, they will act if we jeopardize their people. In the last official report they are the ones who wiped out. The Dengi threat from four hundred years ago.
"Since you're piling on the shit, you might as well tell me about the Domains." Sankara's thoughts fills with aliens and the possibility of mutual exchange and of course, the growing headaches being levied to him. A short exchange tells him that at least seven alien species are fully compatible with humans. He gets a compressed data stream. These seven alien species are fully incorporated into human society and even into the nobility. The human federation hates interspecies relationships. The data stream gives him a basic understanding of the races.
His booming imagination builds for itself a fantasy of him in the start of discovering what makes each of these delightful alien races special.
Jon says, "My lord, reestablishing the trinity should be prime." This is his contribution to his overlord. He has to get it because it is a common-sense move that any street beggar would now. Jon knows this is his best and only chance to get into the overlords' good graces. While the position of Archangel would nice at least, at best it would be temporary.
Sankara sighs. He knows it refers to the three mass orbital refineries, however nothing more. Halil Pasha would have liked to swat Jon at this moment, but he is right. However, he would prefer to say that at a later date. The earth is still the key to the realm he needs to make the Overlord understands this.
"Overlord Sankara, please understand. I know it seems I am begging you to help my domain first over all the others. However, without a proper stable base, no matter what you do. It will be infinitesimally more difficult without the earth. Chandragupta can attest to that personally as he served under Overlord Christoff-Judge, a warrior taken away from us too soon."
Sankara's hands rub his eyes, it all a bit much. The endorphins are fading fast and reality is seeping through every nano data stream. He is being constantly bombarded with new information, some of it pure analytics like the rainfall stats over the Sahel Region for the last six hundred years.
Jon moves closer to the lord, whose head is in his hands. Jon says, "I'm sorry, my lord. The Queen Mother has arrived." Sankara lets out a deep sigh. More than anything, it seems to him she is making a grab for power. He plans to ask her directly. After all, if she too is an enemy, now would be the best time to know so he can prepare himself.
He believes she sees him as weak, otherwise, she would not have spoken to him in that manner. He makes this conjuncture from the fact that he has had to trust his gut his whole life to survive the orphanage and high school, the police, and local gangs. Sankara had a sort of sixth sense about people. In the realm, what he believes to be his ability. In the royal court, this is one of the gifts of Sol. The Sol is the Synaptic Organic Litogram. A piece of tech that allows one to read the embedded neural actuation history of a person as a feeling, thus allowing to one sense a person's nature based on gene-coded neural records.
These records are secret and can give hints, not obvious information. Gene guarded systems is the most widely used and effective measure to guard one's secrets against mind hacks and memory purges. These attacks are now things of the past or only happen in the poorest part of the realm.
Sankara feels nothing but contempt from his Grandmother. Emir Halil Pasha kisses the hand of the Queen mother and allows her eminence to sit in his chair as the second most important person she is now the one allowed to sit closest to the Overlord. She is as graceful as silk moving delicately, her eyes tough as granite and equally dark. The lines on her face are endless, as the lifetime of experiences she has had to endure.
Sankara knows that he should have asked Jon, how this would work. However, this is part of his process. He seeks an understanding of the woman and the society, with so many customs it might get in the way.
"How would you like me to address you?" Sankara gets straight to the point, almost impolite in tone, however, being Overlord affords one many indulgences.
Her face is stiff like concrete, her gaze even harder. She creaks as she speaks. "Firstly, with a greeting, it is only proper."
Sankara smiles and says, "I am sure you know not everything went well. I'm still a bit half baked if you would be so kind as to enlighten me." Sankara is observing the old looking for any crack in her shell of indomitable will.
Jon is stepping forward when she waves him away. "I'm old, not decrepit."
She places her cane on the table and gracefully stands up to the shock of everyone in the room. She moves closer to Sankara before bowing a whole sixty degrees a whole fifteen more than necessary and says with a much more youthful voice. "I am former Overlord Philipa Titiana Augustus the Consol."
The name alone sends shivers through the spines of all present except the Overlord Sankara, who has no idea why they fear her so. At least he knows a Consol is the one who rules when their is no overlord.
Jon now feels worried for the first time about his Overlord. She is the most powerful warrior in the entire realm. He whimpers praise as any servant should "Sun scorcher." He quickly regrets his decision as it breaks the mood. But how could her actions are legendary? She is the living Sol Sovereign.
Halil Pasha takes a breath because of it regaining his senses. 'Truly magnificent she is.' He thinks to himself, remembering the battle of recapturing all the nine crown jewels of Uranus. She is a veteran of war. She is in his mind a force that Overlord Sankara must overcome or assimilate. If overlord Sankara can live through this, there actually is hope for the realm of Ultima.
Chandragupta is working on a small display that appeared on his forearm. He is trying to counteract the command program being pushed by combat nanites. While they will not affect the Overlord because he is ranked higher than the Queen mother. The reason he is so reluctant to accept the command program is that it can break his loyalty to Overlord Sankara.
The Queen mother is shocked to see that her self-coded dominating nanites are not working on anyone present. She had successfully last used them on her false granddaughter and managed to puppet her until an unknown force killed her. The appearance of this so-called last king of the earth is anything but a solution for her. There are no more children, no more grandchildren. She is the last loyal daughter of the Ultima.