Congratulations System Emperor, New Functionality has been unlocked!

Adam read the message, looked back to the Duke of the Trilax, and smiled, “It looks like we now have a System Emperor.” Adam activated Mold Chaos and created a communications device for the Duke that looked like a flip-up phone that he set on the desk in front of him.

“That is a communication device that will allow instantaneous communication with Thor, the entity that is also in control of the Shuttle that’s docked at the station. It will allow Thor to pinpoint your location and do a neat thing like this,” Adam said as Adam stood and called out, “Thor, Portal please?”

A portal back to his Administrator Station over New Alamo opened, and Adam stepped through and turned around. The shuttle is yours to use. Keep the communicator on you so I can contact you if needed. Thor can make these portals to any location he has on file, which will require you to visit places you’d like to be able to go to while you hold the communicator. I need to check a few things and then we’ll get together and I’ll show you some other things we’ll be able to do in short order. For now, use the shuttle to visit places you would like Thor to be able to open a portal for you. I just received a new message so I’m going to figure out what it means to be a System Lord, then we are going to make sure there are no more surprises within this system before we start exploring the Universe, sound good? Have fun!” Adam said as the portal closed, and he walked over to his desk.

“Thor, keep an eye on things, just in case,” Adam said. “Also, set up a download facility where I can download you and Al into my personal memory. I was lucky enough to get you both back. We are not going to take that chance again.”

“Yes Adam,” Thor said.

“Zorvan,” Adam called. A moment later Zorvan teleported into the Office.

“Zorvan, could you do a cost analysis on what it would take to purchase Suppression Arrays for the planet of New Alamo?”

“For the whole planet Adam?” That is easily more than the income you currently possess, not to mention the authorization you would require. I do not believe we discussed this, because you only asked for two suppression arrays, but you are limited to one suppression array plus one per planet your domain holds. Additionally, you have already purchased the largest suppression array that the Multitude provides. You would need to control thousands of planets to purchase enough suppression arrays to control an entire planet which would probably bankrupt your empire.

“I see,” Adam said as he did some quick thinking.

“What about increasing my abilities? The Multitude reset all of my abilities to level one. As yet I have not seen anything that allows me to increase the levels of the abilities I have,” Adam explained.

“Now that you have achieved the Rank of System Emperor you can increase your abilities by one level if you wish. Additionally, another functionality has become available to you as well. You can combine and even trade one ability for another. You do realize that you have too many abilities?” Zorvan asked hesitantly.

“How so?” Adam asked, confused.

“The ability of a soul to hold quintessence nodes is finite. Most beings can only hold three racial abilities. Normally, all other abilities are granted by the class of the individuals. You have 18 additional unaffiliated abilities. That is unheard of.”

“Just lucky I guess. Wait, you said that I can combine some of the abilities?

“Yes, once people are integrated and added to the local sector, something that is automatically done when a System Emperor or Lord emerges, Abilities may be altered or refined. They are not level as your question implies but the refinement makes them more effective within the Multitude. You can think of this as improving abilities efficiency,” Zorvan explained.

“There’s a lot to unpack there,” Adam said. My first question is, integrate the system?”

Zorvan looked thoughtful before he explained, “While this Solar System did not have a System Emperor all access to and from this location through normal space was blocked.”

“Are you saying that this Solar System is shielded in some way?”

“Just so, there is an invisible force field of energy just outside the halo of comets that surround this solar system and every other solar system that has recently undergone unification or is part of the unification process.”

Adam, thanked his lucky stars that he hadn’t decided to fly between solar systems with one of his ships yet before he asked,” So how do I travel between systems, Also, every system?”

“The multitude designates a sector of a Galaxy as part of a Unification. That sector is set up by the Administrators and the solar systems are altered to allow for conflict on a grand scale. You are in a solar system that has been part of Unification for just over 500 years. Your title awarded a planet to you, and it looks like the Multitude modified one of the existing planets in this system and placed you on it. Normally you would have been placed in a random location with your vassals and you would have had to fight for a domain and then increase the number of domains you controlled for the planet. In your case, this was already accomplished so your next step was to claim a solar system. You were quite lucky to be placed in a system with only one, almost two other leaders that could have conceivably challenged you.”

“Lucky how?” Adam asked.

“There are 12 habitable worlds in this system. When the Unification of this Sector originally started each should have been seeded with enough individuals for each world to produce at least one leader. Instead, the planets, as far as I can determine are a chaotic jumble of very small factions that will join you or be destroyed. They don’t have a choice. Why? Because in a matter of days after joining a Unification already in progress you have already created spacecraft that you should not have access to or knowledge of. Additionally, you were able to absorb the other empire within this system, and knowing what you have, should the Duke of the Trilax prove unreliable, he’ll be easily replaced.”

“Okay, I see that. Let’s get back to the System being surrounded by a Force Field. Why is that?” Adam asked.

“The Multitude is large. We are talking about an insane number of beings existing within it. Unification sectors are cut off from the rest of the Multitude for the safety of those within and without.”

Adam looked at Zorvan Doubtfully.

“Imagine for a second that someone outside of this Sector is observing everything that goes on here, even this conversation. Now imagine that there are businesses that looked at Unification as a chance to make a profit by providing a service where the outcome of a specific sector or system can be wagered. In fact, many such wagers could be made. Now imagine if the powerful could visit this system and remove a threat to their profits.”

Adam looked around, “Seriously, a Syndicate-type setup in the real world? How many billions of beings have been relegated to entertainment to the society that makes up the Multitude?” Adam calmed his anger. If it could exist within the mind of an A.I. it could definitely exist within the minds of some beings out here in the real world. Obviously, they had power because they were locking down his abilities and he even thought he understood what was going on there. For now, he needed to play along while he tried to learn as much as he could before he just ignored it and did what he needed to do.

“So how do I get to other Solar Systems to continue my Trial for Supremacy?” Adam asked.

“Now that you have secured the system a number of wormholes will be opened depending on your location within the sector. If we are on the inner or out edge of the galactic ring there may only be one or two wormholes. If we are in the center of the galactic disk there could be as many as 10. It honestly depends on how lucky you are.

“Luck you say. You’ve seen my attributes, best guess? It honestly depends on what the multitude considers lucky for you. With the power you’ve displayed, it could be nothing for you to push out into neighboring systems.”

“You have no idea,” Adam mumbled as he sat down at his desk and reviewed some of the other notifications he’d received.

As he looked over the notification he noticed that none of them were out of the ordinary. The first notification congratulated him for acquiring the Trilax Empire then the second notification caught his attention.

Congratulations, Title gained: “Ferocious!” You increased your rank from World Emperor to System Emperor in 10 days 16 hours and 24 minutes.

Reward: The title Ferocious has upgraded the title “Unique”, all bonuses doubled. +200 to Physical Attributes (Strength, Agility, Endurance, Perception, Wisdom, Willpower, and Luck) and +200% to all Physical Attributes after all other bonuses are added from other sources.

Adam quickly checked his personal information. His attributes had increased to 183 billion. It looked like the award was using the multiple instead of the true percentage. For instance, if he had a strength of 10 and it was increased by 100% it would increase to 20. Increase it by 100% again and it would go to 40. Instead, his attributes had increased as if his strength was 10 and it had increased to 30. A multiple of 3.

Not that it mattered, his attributes were so far off-scale as not to matter. What he was more interested in was combining his abilities. If the limitation the Multitude had put in place actually made it easier to combine abilities there were a few that he definitely wanted to take a look at.

Adam already knew what he was going to do to overcome the limitations the Multitude was imposing. The fact that he still had his attributes, and all of his abilities made it apparent that his idea had merit. But if he could fine-tune the abilities within the Multitudes restrictions, especially since they seemed to make doing so user-friendly, Hell Yeah, he’d jump on that bandwagon.

Adam accessed the Contribution Points Market and noticed that a new tab had opened up for him titled “Abilities.” The tab contained a list of both his Racial abilities and a listing of his “Special Abilities.” There was also a category for Class abilities which was empty. Adam pulled up his “Special” abilities

Treasure Renderer (Looting Specific)

True Sight (Dark)

Shadow Vault (Dark)

Personal Map (Earth)

No Escape (Death)

Scrutinize (Order) (Previously Hal)

Stutter Step (Time)

Regeneration (Life)

Chaos Bolt (Chaos)

Technomancy (Chaos)

Flight (Air)

Obscure (Chaos)

Teleport(Space)

Planar Travel (Dimensional)

Mold Chaos (Chaos, Conjuring/Creation)

Aura Sight (Soul)

Freedom of Flight (Chaos)

Identify (Order)

Each ability was listed with the primary Quintessence that it used. It looked like it pulled the title for each ability directly from his Personal Information. If Adam was going to combine any two abilities he’d combine “Identity” and “Scrutinize” Both seemed to do the same thing and if he was limited on the number of abilities he could have empowered one seemed to be a good idea. Besides he wanted to see what this actually did to the quintessence nodes within himself and these two abilities, while useful, wouldn’t be missed if the Multitude screwed him over.

Adam split his focus and dropped part of his attention into his Mindspace and from there down to his Soul Core where he watched the nodes for “Identify” and “Scrutinize”. Once he was ready he chose to combine the abilities and paid the 1 million Contribution Points which came out of his personal allotment.

Adam watched as tendrils from the almost invisible node that surrounded his soul core sent invisible tethers that wrapped around each ability’s node. The two nodes were moved closer to each other until they merged and then energy was pumped into them from the tether. Adam didn’t understand what the Multitude had done but it was beyond doubt that the two Quintessence nodes had been combined as only one node remained.

Adam looked at his Notifications to see what changes had been made.

Scan (Order).

Range: Variable.

Mana Cost: 33 mana per second, always active unless turned off or mana reaches zero once Mana regeneration reaches 33 per second.

Creature Information Obtained Automatically

Line of Sight: Race of Creature

Within 100 feet: Race, Name, and Hit Points are Automatically displayed if your Willpower is higher than the Willpower of the Target.

Additional Creature Information Obtained if the Class Level is higher than the Class level of the Target: Stamina, Mana, Class, and Class Level

Items within 100 feet glow based on rarity.

Common - Grey

Uncommon - White

Unusual - Pearl

Advanced - Violet

Scarce - Indigo

Epic - Blue

Mythical - Green

Legendary - Yellow

Mythic - Orange

Legendary - Red

Relic - Platinum

Artifact - Gold

Unique – Pink

Additionally, if touched the item’s Name and Properties can be determined if Perception + Willpower averaged is greater than the level of the item. NOTE: This ability does not nullify touched-based defenses from items.

Unique items were pink? Yeah, that made sense, pink wasn’t a common color. Though if he ever had a chance he’d change that color to something besides pink. Adam looked over the changes and had to admit that Scan was going to be very useful for him.

Next, Adam chose True Sight and Aura Sight to combine 1 million Contribution Points and then pulled up the description of his new ability.

True Vision

Range: Variable

Mana Cost: 33 mana per second, always active unless turned off or mana reaches zero once Mana regeneration reaches 33 per second.

You may see clearly in any medium. Additionally, within 100 feet auras can be discerned.

The 100-foot limit for dark vision was gone but still existed for Aura sight. Also, the ability was always active. Other than that, it looked like the ability hadn’t changed at all. Of course, with True Vision and Scan on all the time, that combination of abilities would be quite useful.

Adam thought about combining Flight, Freedom of Flight, and Obscure but ultimately disregarded the notion because each had its individual strengths. The other abilities were abilities he didn’t want to give up at the moment, so he left them alone and exited his Personal Information screen.

Next, Adam looked at upgrading his current abilities and received an error.

Soul overtaxed, too many abilities present. Either discard or combine abilities to Soul Limits before continuing.

Adam laughed, “What horseshit,” he said out loud.

“Master?” Zorvan asked.

“Nothing Zorvan, just commenting on something I saw,” Adam said as he looked back at the interface. That was definitely a way for the Multitude to maintain control, tell the masses that they couldn’t have any more abilities, and get rid of the ones they had if they wanted to try to get different ones. The more he saw, the more he wished he didn’t need to tread so lightly. If his Soul was overtaxed, he’d have noticed it in his Soul Core. To him, it looked like he could keep adding abilities, which was why he wasn’t touching Treasure Renderer. He had yet to use it, but he was betting that it would give him a leg up on the competition when he did.

Done with his ability growth for now Adam opened a new tab titled “Supremacy”. A map of the spiral galaxy appeared then zoomed into to one of the spiral arms. As it did so it finally came to rest in the center of the arm and showed 10 connection lines to 10 Solar Systems that were at varying rangers. The image zoomed in and showed the Solar System he was in, which now carried the Title New Alamo. Around the outside of the planetary plane at 12, 1:30, 3, 4:30, 6, 7:30, 9, 11:30 and the North and South Axis of the Solar System were wormholes that lead to the Solar Systems adjacent to his on the galactic scale. Below the image, a timer had begun counting down and would reach zero in 24 hours. Bracketed before the time was:

“[Trial for Supremacy – Galactic Conquest Starts in: 23:59:15]”

So, it was like that then, Adam thought as plans formed in his mind, “Thor, a portal to the asteroid staging point please,” Adam said.

A portal opened and Adam stepped through closing it behind him. Adam teleported outside of the small space station and into a swarm of nanites that were busy creating a base that could house Al and Thor as well as act as a backup for Adam. Additionally, it now housed the download machinery he needed to get full copies of Thor and Al.

Adam floated beside the machinery while all the attachments and leads to speed up the process materialized around, and then attached to him. Adam closed his eyes, set up a portion of his memory to house Al, and then added Thor’s memories to his while he also copied all of Al’s memories. Next, he went through all the memories he’d absorbed over the long existence he had from both the real world and the SYSTEM Matrix and brought up every weapon and defensive design he’d ever come across. Adam didn’t understand exactly how the Class system that the Multitude used worked, but he was sure that some of the technological races he’d run into like the Lexi, Vrax, Pelza, and especially Eterium probably had more powerful weapons than most of what the Multitude could provide.

Adam didn’t need big ships and he didn’t want to man them, so he did the next best thing, “Thor, how do you feel about going multiple?”

“I’ve been kind of lonely,” Thor quipped back.

“If we can only be attacked by fleets coming through the entry points to this Solar System we need defenses out there within the next 24 hours. We have 10 access points. While you’re making the drones I’m going to go check and make sure there is actually a barrier, let’s get to work,” Adam said.

Thor began using the nanites and the materials in the Asteroid belt to create drones that contained plasma and laser weapons with the best shield he could devise. Additionally, a Control computer was added that had an abridged version of Thor downloaded and quantumly linked to Thor. If the link was somehow disrupted the copy could take over ensuring that the solar system would remain defended. They also had engines and the ability to travel FTL making it possible for the drones to support one another if necessary anywhere in the Solar System. One drone was created every 3 minutes, creating 20 an hour. After 10 hours, there were 20 drones at each gate. After 20 hours there were 40.

While Thor was making drones, Adam flew out to the edge of the solar system and then created a globe of light that he could watch as he increased his speed and released it, Adam followed the globe until it smashed against an invisible barrier. He instantly came to a stop and moved up the globe. He pushed his hand out until he touched it and found that it was solid. Even switching to Freedom of Flight would not allow him to pass through it which meant it existed at the quantum level as well.

Adam created a stream of nanites and had them spread out in all directions. Sure enough, there was a barrier. Adam opened his Personal Map, something he didn’t use that often, and was surprised to find that the entire solar system was visible with a dotted line representing the barrier he was at. He zoomed in and out and was able to see places he’d been as usual.

Zorvan, is it possible to purchase a map update from the Market? Adam sent it through the messaging system.

Yes, Zorvan sent back.

Good, please purchase it and put it in front of Thor, he should be able to connect to it and absorb it.

Done, Zorvan sent.

Immediately Adam’s map filled out as the entire solar system lit up with information concerning the 16 planets, the 12 inner planets, and the four outer ones, which included the Gas Giants. It also showed dots appearing next to each gate as the drones took up their defensive positions.

A moment later Zorvan contacted Adam, Sire, what are you doing?

I’m at the edge of the solar system verifying that there is a barrier, why? Adam sent back.

You are receiving 1 billion Contribution points every 3 minutes or so, Zorvan sent.

I have Thor creating Drones to protect our wormholes, Adam sent back.

Sire, the drones have Class 12 shields and Class 11 Weapons. You’re not supposed to have access to Class 11 or Higher weapons or shields until you control at least two systems. It’s considered a reward. How are you doing this? Zorvan asked.

Don’t you worry your little head about that. I have a question for you, what level of forces should I expect to see coming through the wormholes when they open? Adam asked.

500 years into the Unification of a Sector, maybe Class 2 or 3 weapons, or shields. More likely Class 1 and 2 only. Such items are prohibitively expensive. No one has the resources, let alone the ability to purchase anything like the drones you’re creating.

Good to know, I guess, Adam sent back.

Thor, I also want a couple of ships that can scan everything that comes through those wormholes for our friends and family. Shoot to disable, not to kill unless absolutely necessary. I wouldn’t want to accidentally kill our friends, Adam sent.

Understood Adam, Thor sent.

Done at the Barrier Adam checked in on what the Duke had been up to and noticed that he was currently planet side, playing with the portal to go back and forth. Adam headed back to the Administrator Station over New Alamo, found his way to his room, and went to sleep. It had been a long day and he would have to get back up in just over four hours if he wanted to be awake when the wormholes opened. Four hours later, nothing happened. A day later Adam put his mind to other tasks.

Over the next week, Adam consolidated his gains with the Duke of Trilax and set up deployment facilities on the planet. The facilities contained a quantum link to Thor. This allowed portals to be opened between the staging bases and other points in the solar system. Thor used the fighters that were being created on New Alamo as automatic drones to scout out each of the nine planets that hadn’t been conquered yet. He left the names of those planets to the Multitude to identify and left the Duke of the Trilax to handle the invasion and conquering while he waited to see what form an invasion would take from a System Lord that wanted to come conquer an easy target.

One other thing Adam did while he waited was to fly out past the gas giants into deep space just beyond the last planet and away from any of the wormholes. There he tried to activate Planar Travel to travel back to Earth.

Location No longer exists.

Fine, the location no longer exists. Adam activated Planar Travel, Mode 3, and visualized a location much like New York City in early 2025 or so. Adam felt the ability try to reach out for the location until his mind shuddered before a new notification appeared.

Dimensional Travel is Restricted to a Multitude of Administrators. This ability is currently locked out.

Wasn’t that interesting? Very well, Adam flew back to New Alamo and landed at The Skunkworks where he had the nanites create one of the Pelza cruisers that could cross dimensions. His memory was perfect after all. Just as the Cruiser was about to be completed the Scanners at the 9:00 orbital plane wormhole detected quantum fluctuations as a hole in space opened and ships began pouring through.

***

Admiral Caster of the Royal Invasion Fleet watched as his fleet of 1,000 spaceships made their way into the wormhole and disappeared. His analysts guaranteed that an invasion of this size could easily overwhelm any fleet that a newly integrated planet could muster. It was one of the drawbacks of the rules the Multitude followed during this Trial of Supremacy for the Sector. Only solar systems that had been part of the Unification for 1,000 years or had produced a System Lord could have their wormholes activated. Systems would appear on the galactic map but the wormholes from adjacent systems would not connect. This was to give the locals enough time to produce a leader or for the resources within the system to be built up by the locals that were too lazy to participate in the Trial of Supremacy because everyone participated, whether they wanted to or not.

Since the wormhole opened and only 500 years had gone by, there was a System Lord in that solar System. His System Lord had been very lucky thus far and their solar system had been united for over 400 years which allowed the investments that had been made into creating the fleet that was now leaving for conquest. Of course, they hadn’t had much choice in the matter.

“Report!” Admiral Caster commanded.

“Fleet reports standard deployment on schedule, we will be entering the wormhole in 10 seconds,” A female Leanard, a feline humanoid species with exceptional senses said in a purring voice.

Admiral Caster looked down at his console and watched as the ship entered the wormhole. A moment later they exited onto the planetary plane.

“All ships present and accounted for. 42 ships of unknown origin were detected. Preliminary scans indicate they are unmanned drones.,” A look of surprise crossed her face as she said, “We are being hailed.”

“Let me hear it,” Admiral Caster said.

A moment later a male voice came over the speaker as a 43rd craft suddenly appeared, “Greetings, I am Adam, Emperor of the Adamantium Autocracy. Strength Through Dominance, Surrender or Die?

“Your 43 small ships against this Armada?” Admiral Caster sent back. “I believe it is you who will Surrender or Die?”

A moment later there was a pop as the atmosphere was displaced and something Admiral Caster couldn’t see systematically moved across his bridge and knocked every single member of the bridge unconscious. A moment later a hand gripped him by the back of the neck and lifted him out of his seat as if he were no more than a piece of paper.

“Watch your scanners,” Adam’s voice said from directly behind him as the drones moved toward the command ship. Not waiting for his commands some of the fleet opened fire and Admiral Caster looked on in horror as the analysis of the shields the drones were wrapped in read Class 12.

“The drones carry Class 11 Plasma and Laser weapons. If a ship tries to flee I will have it destroyed. Order your ships to stand down and then take your fleet and put yourselves into orbit around the Gas Giant. Stay there until I come to talk to you again. Try anything else and it will not go well for you.”

The Emperor released Admiral Caster and placed a small box on his console. “This is a direct connection to me. If you need something or have an emergency simply speak into the box. Your crew should wake up shortly, things to do places to go,” the Emperor calling himself Adam said as he disappeared.

“Cease Fire, Cease Fire!” Admiral Caster sent to the other ships. Next, he pushed another button on his console as he said, “Medics to the Bridge.”

Over the next five minutes, he had his personnel checked over while his fleet held position with five of the drones trained on his cruiser while the other 37 moved out and surrounded the fleet. The Emperor had not done any permanent damage to his crew and had shown just how outmatched his fleet was with their Class 1 weapons and Class 2 shields. They couldn’t even scratch the shields on those ships.

While it was glorious to die in battle, dying when one didn’t even have a chance was pointless. Once the crew was ready he issued orders for the fleet to make haste toward the Gas giant. Their ships had Class 1 FTL drives so they could make it in about 5 hours. When they arrived the little box Adam left behind spoke.

Welcome to the Adamantium Autocracy Admiral, I am Thor, your liaison to the emperor. Please inform your crews of the new reality and prepare to have your ships upgraded at our space dock. Terms and Conditions will be sent. Those that accept Adam as their Emperor will be treated well, those that do not will be relegated to the Duke of Trilax for assimilation. Again, welcome to the Empire.

***

Adam watched as Thor worked with the Admiral while he flew around the Armada of ships with Obscure active as they made their way to the giant. He hadn’t actually needed them to fly there, but it gave the crew something to do while he had his nanites make changes to each ship. He upgraded their shields and weapons and added a couple of new components that would be necessary as he flew up next to each ship and spread his nanite field out. While the nanites were working he used Technomancy to reprogram the ships to take orders from Thor. He also downloaded a copy of Thor into the ship’s computer he’d just upgraded.

Just as the fleet arrived at the Gas Giant Adam had finished all of his upgrades and had Thor issue terms. 75% of the members of the fleet joined his Empire when they learned their Contribution Points would be tripled for their next mission. The 25% that did not were offloaded onto the Trilax for questioning. After a Day Adam learned that the Empire of the Dying Sun when they could, held the families of their warriors as hostages.

Adam had Thor open a portal to the Bridge with Admiral Caster and stepped through to stand before him. Admiral Caster was an imposing being that looked to have some reptilian in his heritage.

“Good evening Admiral. I have come for a visit to ask a very simple question, Does the Empire of the Dying Sun hold members of your family as hostages?” Adam asked.

“Yes,” The Admiral said unflinchingly”.

“Was it your intention to defect back to your old empire once you returned? “

“It wasn’t my intention no, though threats to my family would have made it impossible to go against my family,” The Admiral said honestly.

“I see. Thank you for your honesty. This is what you are going to do, not because you want to but because you really don’t have any other choice. You will return through the Wormhole. You will report whatever you want to your previous emperor and then you will explain that you are not in control of the fleet. Feel free to let them know about the four drones that will be accompanying you. Thor will use that time to broadcast how the Adamantium Autocracy will treat the citizens of the Dying Sun should they wish to join my empire. guard the wormhole. Don’t worry, you and your crews will be perfectly safe,” Adam said.

“What are your plans for the Empire?”

“Strength through Dominance, though in my case, I do not have to kill to prove my strength, though I will if necessary. I’d prefer not to though.” Adam said.

“Our Fleet will not be able to stand against the fleet within our home system,” Admiral Caster said.

“As I said, feel free to explain exactly what will happen if the drones engage. They will be there to support you. If you are fired upon, any ship that fires will be disabled. By the way, how long can your ships remain deployed before they need to be restocked?”

“One month, though this ship has a Contribution Market Contribution points can be utilized to purchase food.

“Very well. Within the month, I will come to visit the Empire of the Dying Sun and we’ll see about incorporating them fully into my Empire. Please inform your previous Emperor of this as well,” Adam said as he stepped back through the portal into his ship, and it closed behind him.

Adam watched as the fleet headed back toward the wormhole fully confident that the copies of Thor would be able to control what the Admiral did. Holding crews and family members hostage to maintain control? Adam didn’t think he was going to like the Emperor of the Dying Sun Empire.