The man who entered the room was surprisingly young, Julia observed. Yet, his deep purple eyes conveyed wisdom and experience, she had seen only in the old and frail. Everything from his dress to his appearance was simple, which made him stand out. From the moment the shuttle of the Envoy had picked her up from Gibraltar III, she was surrounded by a subtle degree of lavishness, absent from the Fringe. The closer they got to the core, the more obvious the luxuries become, until Julia stepped from the shuttle and set foot on the soil of the Holy Garden of Hell, Terra.

She stood there like the backwater dweller she was, mouth agape and the breath caught in her chest. The beauty of the place was enhanced by the harshness of its surroundings. Thick toxic clouds engulfed the glass dome of the Capital Habitat. The pale ball of light, which was the Sun was but a smug in the sky, bathed everything in a shade of white, she did not imagine possible. The area would have been submerged in an eternal gloom if not for the massive illuminator apparatus hanging from the titanic support structure supporting the dome. Blasted dark jugged mountains loomed over the horizon. Foreboding and oppressive, they were highlighted by a faint crimson glow from the burning ocean behind them. It was a nightmarish sight to behold a clear testament to why humanity had renamed their ancestral home as Hell.

But all of this contrasted to the vast green fields surrounding her. Large trees, green, red, orange and yellow, decorated each road and paved path. And then, there were the people. Most, Julia was surprised to learn, were but slaves or labourers. However, they wore clothes worthy of a noble or a Muqads Priest. The free citizens and the nobles were secluded in their richly decorated walkers and hover-cars. At that moment, Julia realised why the soldiers of the Holy Empire were so loyal and fanatical.

The inhabitants of Terra had managed to create a paradise in the heart of hell. Their mastery of technology was years ahead of that within the Union of Ten. No matter where she looked, Julia could not see any sign of the rusted and re-purposed machinery she was so used to and which she assumed was the pinnacle of engineering. In that brief moment, she wondered if there was any point in meeting the Blessed Saint. This view alone was enough to convince her that there was no future for an independent Union of Ten. There was only one option she could recommend to the Higharcs – submission.

Before she knew it, Julia was passing beneath the arched walls of the Imperial Place, riding in the Envoy’s luxurious ground vehicle. Large cupolas and terraced towers decorated each of the smaller buildings which made up the Palace. She knew that the twenty square kilometres pristine structure of white polished stone and bronze was just a third of the actual Place. The rest of it expanded beyond the protection of the Capital Habitat and into the foot of the mountains. Julia had seen as much while the shuttle descended to the airport. It was there that the head of the Holy Empire resided, while this portion was for the use of the nobles, dignitaries and foreign representatives like herself. Why would someone willingly expose themselves to the toxic atmosphere of Terra, was beyond her comprehension.

Julia was stunned once more, by the reception waiting for her at the large marble plaza leading to the entrance of the Palace. Two lines of female soldiers, twenty each, flanked the ground car and the large stairs leading to the massive wooden door of the entrance. Their white and purple armour separated them from the normal guards Julia had seen on the walls and the city proper. But what impressed her most, were attachments on their backs. Shaped like the skeletal structure of wings, those were personalised ion-flight units. She had seen such things only on the attack craft of the Higharcs’ private armies. To think someone had managed to adapt them for use by people was insane.

“The Daeva,” the Envoy spoke softly next to her. “The Unforgiven Daughters of Saint Lilith. Not everyone receives such a grand reception, Envoy Kai.” The old man smiled at her. “I hope, now you believe my words of the importance His Holiness places on this meeting.”

Carefully, Julia extended her psionic powers and probed the Imperial Envoy’s mind. The old man had been genuinely surprised that the elite unit was waiting for them. It was not a simple show of force, as she had originally believed. Having learned of the Imperial stance on psionically gifted people, Julia had taken careful steps to hide herself. Risking it at that point could not be justified, but she had to know. Curiosity was one of her greatest powers and worst flaws.

Quickly, she masked herself with a polite smile and repressed her gift. A smile which froze and turn to a mixture of awe and fear as two large men emerged from shadowy alcoves next to the door. Nearly three meters tall and excessively augmented with cybernetic parts to the point they could not be called human, they opened the wooden door and returned to the shadows. But Julia did not need to probe the Envoy’s mind to understand what they were, these monstrosities were the show of force she expected from the moment she was stepped on the shuttle. One look at the faint smirk on the old man’s face was all the confirmation she would have needed if there had been any doubt in her mind.

The events which followed still confused her. The breach of protocol, her being rushed through sideway corridors to the small study room, it was all because of the one standing in the vast opening. A tall young man, dressed in a guard’s combat uniform and with flowing silver hair dropping in his shoulders, stood there and gave her a charming smile. Even though a good hundred meters separated them, she could feel his burning amber eyes fix on her through the tainted window of the ground car, which was coming to a stop.

“What is he doing here?” Julia heard the Envoy curse under his breath before the old man turned to her. “This is where we part ways, Envoy Julia Kai. That there is Michael the Puppeteer, the First Demon, and if he is here, he will be the one to escort you to His Holiness.” Julia had to give credit to the old man. Truly a skilled diplomat, for being able to hide the disdain he felt towards the young man. If not for her gifts, she would have been fooled.

All of this had happened close to an hour ago, according to the time stamp on her cornea implant. Julia had spent only five minutes with Michael and shared nothing more than a simple greeting and introduction and to wait for the Emperor, but it was enough to put her on edge around the man. There was an air of danger around her and she felt a mixture of allure and dread which bordered on the unnatural. An unskilled psionic might have confused it with someone stronger than them trying to probe their mind, but she was as proficient with her gifts as was humanly possible.

Unlike the enforcers of the Higharcs, she had been trained by the Qua. Their mastery of psionics could be compared to that of neither human nor vataari. Julia mused on the idea for a moment. If gifted humans could be compared to a camping fire, then the gifted among the Vataar were like the flames of an industrial smelter, both dwarfed by the volcano which were the Qua. However, therewithin lay the problem, she was skilled to the point she could hide her gifts from the imperials, so why did she feel uneasy when standing next to Michael?

The question was made mute as the Blessed Saint of Hell Emperor of the Holy Teran Empire, Constantine III Rütter, entered the study. Never before had she seen a human with purple eyes, nor had she seen one with amber ones, but that was beside the point. Julia was caught on the wrong foot from the moment the door opened. There was no herald to make the introduction, no servants or officials accompanying him and no guards. It felt unreal. If she were an assassin, she could have the man dead and the Empire plunged into chaos in seconds.

The man chuckled heartedly. “I am sorry to disappoint you Miss Kai of the Union of Ten, but I am yet to see a human best a Terran.” He held up his hand before she could speak. “Please, let us drop the formalities. I know who you are and you know who I am.”

“In that case, how should I address Your Holiness…” Julia began her question, hoping to stir it to more familiar ground, but was interrupted by a sharp intake of breath from the Blessed Saint.

“That’s the title I like the lest,” without breaking his step, the emperor sat in one of the cushioned chairs on the other side of the short table. “Constantine will do. Considering I will be calling you Julia.”

By her estimations, the Blessed Saint was in his mid-thirties or early forties, yet within a couple of seconds, he was dictating the direction and speed of the meeting like a man with at least a century worth of experience. To make matters worse, he kept swiping her off her feet, which made a properly trained diplomat-envoy like her, want to scream in frustration. But that was just it. That was what he wanted. The way this man behaved, was by design. A strange, but very effective way to have her dance to his tune. Julia had to do something to take back control. The future of the Union of Ten depended on this meeting. The only way she could do that was by probing the man’s mind.

The smile evaporated from Constantine’s face and his merry voice took a surprising hardness. “I would advise you against using your powers psi-witch.” Two guards, a man and a woman, who looked early similar to Michael entered the room and stood by the door. “I would hate it for Gabriel and Raphaela to have to tear you apart in here.”

He knew she was psionic, that shocked her more than she thought it would. Julia knew for a fact that the psi-scryers of the Holy Empire could not detect her gift unless she used it earnestly. Extensive tests had been conducted by the technicians of the Lekaar using captured scryers from the Batralian Skirmish. There was no doubt in her mind that this was not an idle threat. Although the two guards appeared to be unarmed, something about the way they stood and watched her with their emotionless burning amber eyes, made her shiver. Neither of the pair was psionic, she was sure of it, which meant that the Blessed Saint had to be. On top of that, for her to not feel him entering her mind, he had to be an entity which could put to shame her Qua instructors.

“I must disappoint you once more, Julia. No Terran is psionically gifted,” Constantine sighed and turned to face the two guards. “I take it the refreshments are ready?”

“Yes,” Gabriel answered and nodded towards the woman next to him. The two held the door open for a servant with a cart loaded with drinks and foods of various colours smells to enter the room. Julia was surprised by the thing, it was primitive. It was not a hover trey, nor was it self-propelled or mechanical construct guided by a program. It was a large rectangular thing of two levels, supported on four wheels. The only way it would move was by having someone manually push it. And that was just the point of the thing. It was designed to show who held true power.

Slowly Julia was beginning to understand how Constantine III’s mind worked as she observed the servant place elegant porcelain cups and plates on the small table separating her and the Blessed Saint. All the while, the hunched man did not lift his head to try and steal a passing glimpse of either her or his master.

Tattoos of what had to be religious texts covered the man’s shaved scalp and neck and the way they were positioned suggested they continued beneath the richly decorated blue robe that covered the servant’s body. It took the man nearly a minute to transfer the content of the cart onto the table and leave the room, escorted by the two guards. Julia used the time to properly formulate her next question, seeing that the Blessed Saint was not inclined to speak, while the servant was around. It was yet another hint of how perfectly Constantine III played the game of politics.

Once the door closed and the two were alone, Julia finally dared to speak. “If you are not psionic, how could you know what I am thinking?”

“Experience, my girl,” he smiled and took a sip of a black hot liquid with a strong aroma of cinnamon. “You are not the first Envoy I meet and there are the nobles who demand my attention on a daily basis.” He gently placed the cup on the table. “For example, once I entered, you entertained the idea that it was foolish of me to do so without at least a guard by my side because it makes me an easy target for an assassin or something along those lines.”

Gently he pushed a cup of coffee in her direction. “This one you should be familiar with.”

“Thank you.” She returned the smile, understanding now that he had read the hesitation in her eyes. “Might I inquire as to what it is you are drinking?” It was hard for her to omit the honorific at the end of her question, but she was proud that she had managed to adapt.

The Blessed Saint chuckled once more. “This is a surprise. I expected a different question.” He leaned back into the cushioned chair and gave her a warm smile. “It is the same thing, albeit a bit different. It is coffee, but one grown on the Albion plains, here on Terra. Sadly, it is not fit for human consumption. The last thing I would want is for you to die due to toxic poisoning.”

“And what question did you expect of me?” She took a sip of the beverage in her hand, surprised to find hints of vanilla and cinnamon in both the aroma and taste, while her mind raced to keep up with the oddness of the Blessed Saint’s way of speaking.

“How did I know you were a psi-witch. To be blunt, I was informed of this the moment Kislev’s shuttle landed at the port.” Constantine’s hand hovered above a plate of bite-sized pastries; his attention diverted to find which one looked the most appetising. “You might be able to slip by the scryers used on the outskirts of the Empire, but as skilled as you might be, you cannot mask yourself from the psi-screens deployed on the core worlds. In that regard, unthinking machines are far more reliable.”

The very idea that the Empire had developed a technology which detected psionics was terrifying. It blunted the edge Julia had prepared for this meeting. It also destroyed the strategy the Higharcs had prepared for the future negotiations with the Holy Empire. It put the entire structure of the Union of Ten in jeopardy.

“Are you not afraid, I could enter your mind before your guards enter the room?” The question was blunt and contradicted every protocol instilled in her, but Julia had to ask, she had to find something to give her any sort of an advantage.

“That is a good question. Although, you will not like the answer,” Constantine smiled at her, but this time there was a challenge in his smile. He was baiting her, daring her to try. “As you might guess, there are quite a few intricate psi-screens in this room. Let us assume, that by some miracle, you manage to sneak through them before a warning is issued. That would mean you will have a fraction of a second to overwhelm the integrated defences in my cerebral implants. But let’s be honest, any psi-witch could do that given enough time.” He took a sip from the cup in his hands.

“For the sake of argument, I would assume you are able to do so in eight to ten seconds. To make it easy to calculate, I will say that from the start to the point you overcome my implants, it takes you ten seconds.” Constantine took a pastry coated in bright green coating and unceremoniously flicked it in his mouth.

“It would take you another five seconds to comprehend the differences between a human and Terran mind and another three seconds to implant an idea or control thought you might want to. Or in other words, from start to finish of such a task, between twenty-six and twenty-eight seconds would elapse. Gabriel and Raphaela can enter the room in fifteen.”

He gave her a tired smile. “However, that is beside the point. You would need to be an Oblivion class psionic for any of that.”

Julia looked at the strange man sitting across her and shared the soft chuckle he made. An Oblivion class, although theoretically possible to exist, was not something a human could survive. Even the far more superior mind of a Qua would struggle to control such gifts for more than a day. A human, like her, would expire within mere seconds of reaching such level.

“Since you are able to mask yourself from the psi-scryers and since you were allowed to come anywhere near the Palace, you Miss Kai, are at least above Oni class, but below Wraith class. If I had to guess… Hex class.”

“You give my skills too much credit. I border the Oni and Thule classes. I am surprised… Constantine. For someone who has proclaimed strict restrictions om psionically gifted people, you are well versed in the different classifications.” Julia gave up trying to figure the man or play politics with him. In a way, it was refreshing to have an open and honest conversation with the Blessed Saint.

“May I ask you a question, before you try to guess it?” She cocked her head to the side and using the only tool she had left at her disposal – her womanly charm. A slight nod was all the man gave her as a response.

“Why am I here? This meeting was supposed to be between an Envoy of the Holy Empire and the Envoy of the Union of Ten. So, why am I, a political nobody, meeting you?” There was no turning back now. However, Julia had the impression, from the moment Envoy Hector Kislev parted ways with her, that this was not going to be an ordinary meeting.

“Because I am fascinated by what the Union of Ten has managed to achieve. Humans coexisting with nine other alien species and not only that but doing so while being one of the most influential ones. This is the only chance I would have to meet such a human before the Union of Ten is annexed and absorbed into my domain.”

Julia was surprised by the certainty in the Emperor’s voice. “You say that as if it is only a matter of time. Let’s assume…”

“There is no assumption to be made here, Julia,” Constantine interrupted her. “It is not even a matter of time. The Union of Ten will surrender and join my Empire peacefully in the next thirty days. Or I will take it through force, within a year.”

There it was, the man she had expected to meet. Arrogant, confident in the power of his armies and brutal in the way he negotiated. At this moment, Constantine III Rütter was what she expected from the head of an autocratic religious empire. He might dress this meeting anyway he wanted to, but in the end, Julia was here to receive his ultimatum and deliver it to the Higharcs. However, that did not mean she could not try and soften the terms a little.

“Please excuse my words, but I find this to be a very bold statement.” Her mind entered the state of a diplomat she was far more comfortable with. “Thirty days are simply not enough. I am sure you might be surprised, but for democracy, this is too short of a time-span to review any proposal you might want to make.”

Constantine stood motionless for a moment and Julia thought she had found the edge she needed for the conversation to follow. That notion shattered the moment the man exploded in a burst of laughter. “Miss Kai, you cannot actually believe this,” he managed to say between laughs. Had he made this absurd claim as some sort of a test?

“Have you seen this planet?” He spread his arms around. “This is what democracy leads to – Hell. This place is the legacy of the last great democracy, you might know it as the First United Human Empire. But there are records left on this forsaken planet and we know it by its true name – the Stellar Union of Human Nations. And those same records show us what Terra used to be before the Third Hell.” Constantine stopped for a moment, assuming a calmer demeanour.

“I am sorry, the third human-made planetary extinction event. The nuclear wars of the so-called twenty-fifth century, although devastating, had left no mark on the planet. The Wars of Unification left this world a little worse for wear and nearly returned the human race to the stone age. Yet, once humanity emerged on the galactic stage millennia later, the Qua still called this place the Great Blue Jewel of Sol.”

Julia stood frozen in her chair. This contradicted everything she was taught, yet, the conviction with which Constantine spoke, made her hold her tongue and listen. There was more to her desire to listen without interrupting, she would not admit to it, but her curiosity had taken a hold of her.

“It took us Terrans nearly a thousand years to make the small habitable pockets so that humanity could return and re-settle its ancestral home.” She could see the Blessed Saint take a deep breath in order to calm himself.

“Your Higharcs can call the Union of Ten anything they like, but it does not change the fact that it is a heavily restricted police state. Your overlords go to great lengths to keep the population of your worlds in check. To the point where they have allowed psi-witches to serve as enforcers and have granted them rights above those granted to the psionically def.”

The door to the room opened and the female guard, Raphaela, entered the room. In her hands was a thick folder of printed documents and a datapad placed on top of it. Without a word, the woman placed the items on the table. She then produced a thin cylindrical object, similar to an opaque metal syringe without a needle and placed atop the folder. As she had entered, Raphaela left the room without uttering a single word.

Julia’s eyes were fixed on the small object atop the folder of papers. She could swear she had seen something like it a very long time ago. But no matter how hard she tried; she could not recall what the item was. What was supposed to be a moment, stretched into nearly a minute. Bored with waiting for her reaction, Constantine broke the silence. “It’s a chemical-ink pen.”

Once the words registered in her mind, a memory emerged. Julia had been five or maybe seven years old, only a school freshman. The lecturers had taken them to a museum for some reason she could not bother to remember. There she had seen such an item. The curator had even allowed them to hold a replica of the original thing and try writing with it a sand pool. The Blessed Saint could not expect her to use the damned thing? Writing, actually writing by hand, was skill few trained in. It was something done by obscure artists or ancient archaeologists. If she wanted to write, she would use a pad or make a note through her cerebral implant.

“Some habits, still live on Terra. The documents you see, are the same ones on the pad. I would need to sign both digital and hard copy before the digital is sent to the Higharcs of the Union of Ten.” The man smiled at her. “You will find that the first page of the folder is blank. I would suggest you practice writing your name and authentication code on it.”

“What is all this?” Julia asked, not bothering to hide her confusion. The only thing she was certain of was the person across the table was unstable, based on how he had shifted and guided the conversation.

“The terms for the peaceful annexation of the Union of Ten into the Holy Terran Empire.”

She grabbed the datapad and browsed through the files in it. “You cannot be serious?!” There had to be a mistake. “You are really giving the Higharcs thirty days to comply before announcing a total war! Your Highness, I implore you to reconsider. Such a demand is borderline insane. The Union of Ten occupies a region of space three times larger than your Empire. The Union armies outnumber yours by ten to one.”

Julia looked at Constantine’s face, but she could see no emotion on it. “I have seen that there is a technological gap between our sides, however, a conflict on such a scale is going to cost you dearly. More so, if the rumours that you are preparing for an attack on the Xith and the Ul are true.”

A small tick at the corner of the man’s eye was all she needed to know she had caught onto something. Julia had to press her advantage, less she lost it once more. “Although you might be able to delay a conflict with the Confederacy of Ul, the Stratocracy is not going to allow you time to finish a conflict with the Union and recuperate the losses you will suffer. We are talking about a race which controls a third of the galaxy and which wages wars with a dozen species as we speak. You cannot honestly believe that the thousand systems of your domain could stand a chance against the billions gathered under the Xith.”

“You are quite correct, Envoy Kai,” Constantine smiled at her. “A Xith invasion is inevitable. However, I will do everything I can to delay it as much as possible, so that my successors can be better prepared to face it.”

“Tell me, Julia, have you ever asked yourself, how has a single planet with a population just shy of a billion people, has managed to conquer a thousand systems in three hundred years?” He said as he picked which pastry to consume next.

Personally, she couldn’t care less, her superiors and the Higharcs, on the other hand, were willing to kill for an answer to that question. If Julia managed to return with the why a small moon to use as her personal home would be the least she could get as a reward.

“It is because we are Terrans. But that is the limit of what we can do on our own.”

“You keep distinguishing between those born on Terra and other humans born on the other worlds,” she remarked flatly, unsatisfied with the explanation, “as if you are talking about different species.”

“I thought you would have understood it by now.” Constantine’s eyes burned like those of a fanatic as he continued. The change in his persona, caught Julia off-guard. “That’s exactly it, Envoy Kai. Humans and Terrans share the same ancestry, but we are different species.”

“We Terrans are the product of forced evolution, brought by the devastation wroth on this world. We are stronger, faster and more durable compared to humans. But those are differences on the basic level. We have developed additional organs which help us filter the toxins chocking the outside air.” He stood up and walked to the window decorating the far wall, beckoning her to follow her with a gesture of his hand.

“A human can survive a week outside the domes, without a protection suit. That is if they have brought enough food and water, to last them while their lungs are corroded to protein soup within their bodies.” He turned to look at her. “You can see for yourself, that outside the domes, there is no water. The very oceans are burning and have been doing so for a thousand years. The only thing available to drink on the outside is gathered in quickly drying puddles after the acidic rains.”

“We have adapted to survive on those and survive without a single drop of water for a month while we wait for acid rains. Our eyes see in spectrums of light you cannot comprehend, because of torn atmospheric layers and increased solar radiation. Our bodies have a dozen glands absent in humans. But the biggest change is in here,” the tapped the side of his head with one finger. “The third brain hemisphere.”

“We Terrans, have evolved to survive here on Hell. But that’s just it, we have adapted too perfectly for his blasted planet. Our genetic makeup is wrecked by rampant mutation without the poisonous chemical cocktail we breathe and drink. Three to five years, that is how long we can endure before our bodies destroy themselves in a clean environment.” There was sadness in his voice as he returned to the chair. “Our reproduction is dependant on the toxins of this world. And as a bonus, a population over nine hundred and fifty million people is unsustainable on Hell. Anything above that will exhaust the scant food sources available to us, forcing us to turn to cannibalism.”

“And no, we cannot rely on food imports from other planets. That is a lifeline which can collapse far too easy. Such an act will doom us. The option of genetic manipulation is also out of the question, because of how unstable our genome is.”

“This is why you conquer former human worlds,” Julia finally managed to utter. “This is why you need the Union of Ten.”

“Correct. What we lack to survive a Xith invasion is manpower.” Constantine took another cup and tasted its content, a tired smile forming on his face. “At least we look human on the outside, which has made uniting the closest system under one banner a fairly easy task. For this reason, we made the Domes. So that you, our genetic cousins could inhabit our mutual ancestral home.”

“Why are you sharing such valuable information with me?” Julia had a strong enough grip on her mind to understand that this was dangerous knowledge. The type which normally ended with one buried in two dozen different graves in as many different star systems. As hard as she thought, she could not think of any way this meeting could have a happy ending for her.

“Because you are a human, Miss Kai,” Constantine opened the folder on the table and began to flick through the pages. “You are also an outsider, one hailing from this strange place called the Union of Ten. Which means you also lack one very important trait, which my kind has, you lack the xenophobic fear which shackles my kind. We lack the diversity of humans, instead, we are locked into a single mould with close to no variation. That’s why humans within the domes rarely see any Terrans because we are starting to despise you as we despise the aliens. This cannot be allowed to occur.”

The Blessed Saint picked the page he had been looking for within the folder and offered it to her, the joyful smile returning to his face. “You are a smart, beautiful and most of all, pragmatic woman. As I said, I will delay the conflict with the Xith and I have, for another generation at least.” He allowed her a moment to give the document in her hands a quick read.

Julia felt the muscles in her jaw stiffen as she read line after line.

“Thirty days, that is how long it would take for the Confederacy of Ul to collapse.” Constantine poured some more of the black tar-like coffee into his cup. “As you can read in that lovely report, my Demons are not just a figure of speech. They are somewhat more corporeal.”

Slowly the Blessed Saint walked towards the door. “I’ll give you three days to make your decision as to where your future belongs.” Constantine III Rütter left her alone in that small study. Alone with her thoughts and the horror written on that cursed page.

-

To His Holiness, Constantine III Rütter,

Blessed Saint of the Garden of Hell,

The notes recovered by the Al-khatya Consecrators from the tomb vault of Director Dragan Helix have proven invaluable. Although Generation 1 Demons possess a fraction of the power observed in Michael and his kin, they have been an outstanding success. I am happy to report that the Ul-Battyr control nexus has been successfully infiltrated and a kill switch has been introduced within it. The Ul will have to face Your Holy Armies without their slaves at their side.

This success has opened up the road to completing the Osiris Facility. Genetic growth vats and cloning chambers will be fully operational sooner than originally estimated. I predict that we will be ready for mass production of the first hundred thousand of the basic human soldiers within the next three months. In fact, I am willing to bet my life and the lives of my mate and children on this.

Once more, I would like to express my unending gratitude to Your Holiness for lending us the services of Ulrius and Seltieallia. To have two of Michael’s own kin serve as instructors to the new Generation of Demons has been a true blessing. I dare not keep them any longer away from Your side. As such I am sending them back to the Holy Garden of Hell and the Palace along with my complete report, copies of my notes and copies of the viable genome sequences used so far so that work on the Lazarus back-up facility can begin.

Your faithful servant,

Ordained High Priest of Science,

Jacopo Phoenix

-

Less than half page of text, yet, its content had just changed and re-shaped the galaxy. It ensured that the Holy Terran Empire would not be considered as a small sector power, but a galactic super power within a century, perhaps half of it. This was also how the line of Rütter had expanded the borders of its fledgeling realm so quickly – infiltration and sabotage. Those first worlds had fallen before the first troop carries had made planetfall, they just had not known it at that point. The question Julia faced now, was how far had Constantine III planned to expand his Empire.

She looked at the thick folder on the table. Thirty days, the Higharcs would never expect such an ultimatum. The Blessed Saint was right, it was not because of technical difficulties, it would be rejection born of spite. But what it was Constantine had said, or rather implied, he would love for the Union of Ten to choose the peaceful option. Otherwise, he would conquer them within a year.

Julia smiled and allowed herself a chuckle. She felt as if she had aged years during the thirty minutes of this meeting. Switching sides did not sound that bad, after all.