“Is anyone helping him?” The Supervisor asked the agent he’d assigned to the task of reviewing the account concerning the Adamantium Autocracy. What a weird name, the Supervisor thought.

“All investigations indicate that all items in use within the sector were created within and by the System Lord. No outside influence has been detected, nor has any item been ‘gifted’ to that empire. Though we have detected plenty of black-market gifts being given to the empires he has been encountering. Additionally, we have verified that ‘Adam’ has been destroyed three times when visiting Empires to discuss terms. In each case, he returned shortly thereafter and obliterated the Emperor and anything that resembled a military leadership that destroyed his physical body.”

“Wait, you’re saying that he was confirmed to have been killed?” The Supervisor asked.

“Yes, each time he reappears in his Administrator Office at New Alamo.”

“And the revenue loss?”

“Quite a bit initially. Now the wagers being made are more along the lines of how long before he conquers another system. When will he reach 25% and move to claim the title of Sector Lord.”

“And?” The Supervisor said, inviting the agent to continue.

“He took control of his system completely within a month. The first System Lord to attack him was one that he utterly destroyed. That System was absorbed within a week as were the 10 systems that directly connect to his Capital System, that same week. Doing all that took him less than two weeks. He pays his subjects almost double the going rate in collaboration points as he reinvests all but a very small percentage of what he earns back into the Empire. Our analysts believe he is looking for something, but we haven’t been able to figure out what that is,” The Agent said.

“Where did he come from?” The Supervisor asked.

“One of the recently acquired worlds that recently underwent Unification and Classification,” The Agent said as he looked over some information on his monitor.

“Wait, the Sector he is in has been undergoing the Trial for Supremacy for well over 500 years now. How was he added to this sector and not the sector the rest of the people from his planet went to?” The Supervisor asked.

“The Arbiter filed a report stating that placing someone who did so well during Classification would be unfair to all other participants. There would be no struggle as he was starting with a world domain.”

“Of course, it did,” The Supervisor said, interrupting the agent. A moment later he motioned for the Agent to continue.

“As the circumstances of the award were unique a location was found within another Sector and the subject was given control of a world there.”

“What about the drones and ships he’s creating, where are those coming from?” The Supervisor asked.

“The Arbiter has stated that the devices and items within the Trial were made by Adam within the Sector. No outside influence has been allowed or detected. Also, the Arbiter has clarified that the knowledge to create all the high technology items Adam has been making has been coming from him and no one else,” The Agent said.

“Does anyone within the Sector even have a chance against the ships he’s creating?”

“None can afford to purchase such vessels. He’s eclipsed every other System Lord in wealth and we estimate that he will control 25% of the Sector shortly. Our analysts would like to point out that if the subject was more ruthless he could simply destroy each world and he would have conquered the sector in a matter of days, instead of the projected year it will take.”

“What does this say about preparing the masses for the war? There is no struggle no improvement?” The Supervisor pointed out.

“The most recently started Sector Trial has shown some promising individuals that seem to come from the same planet as the subject. Our analysts feel that allowing the subject to complete the Trial is the best course of action. Once he has taken control he will be ready for integration and reassignment as one of our front-line warriors.” The Agent said.

“But will he fight?” The Supervisor asked.

“We do not know. Once he understands what is at stake he might do so voluntarily. He does seem to care about the wellbeing of others until they cross him, then they are discarded or obliterated.”

The Supervisor nodded thoughtfully and then said, “Keep an eye on him. Any change in behavior should be elevated to me for review immediately.”

The Agent nodded and went back to work reviewing Adam’s latest accomplishments.

***

Adam appeared nude in his Administrator Station over New Alamo, Again, and sighed. This was the fourth time he’d died when trying to take over an enemy solar system. He equipped one of his spare black flight suits from his Shadow Vault, and sat down at his desk.

“Didn’t go so well?” Thor asked from the monitor on his desk.

“Thermonuclearly bad,” Adam said. “Did the ship survive?”

“I still have a link to it. I was able to raise the shields around it when I detected the initial pulse but it still takes time for the shield to solidify, which, by the way, is the only system that still works. Well, except for the self-destruct but that would decimate the planet, not that the nuke didn’t take out the entire capital city. I estimate it’ll take at least a couple of minutes for you to fix the ship with your nanite field when you get back.” Thor said.

“That limit on the radius my nanites can work at is a real kick to the balls. We could have been done with this conquest already if not for that,” Adam said.

“True, but then you wouldn’t learn about all the nice aliens and exotic races that we’ve never run into before,” Thor said.

Just then a new notification entered his vision

A Blood Hunt has Been Called on Emperor Snelith!

A Rival System Lord has abused his authority by destroying a number of his protected individuals without sanction or approval as part of an attack on a rival System Lord with a weapon of mass destruction. As losses are expected when attacking another empire, System Lords are not penalized for killing an enemy’s non-combatants. This does not hold true for killing your non Combatants.

Neighboring System Lords have 7 days to respond and acquire the empire before the current emperor will be removed and replaced.

Good Hunting!

“Zorvan,” Adam called.

A moment later Zorvan teleported into Adam’s office.

“Zorvan, do you know what a Blood Hunt is?” Adam asked

“Yes, Adam, I have not received a notification that you have been Blood Hunted. Might I assume it was against the Emperor you just dealt with?” Zorvan asked.

“You might,” Adam said

“While an Emperor can punish his subjects as he sees fit, he must do so personally. Noncombatants are not disposable players in the Trial for Supremacy. They are assets that should be grown and nurtured to help build one’s empire. Those leaders that fail to understand this and destroy their subjects with mass extinction actions, like utilizing a nuclear device in a capital city, are targeted with a Blood Hunt. Once called it cannot be revoked. Additionally, if you had been the Emperor to be blood hunted we would not be having this conversation as I would have been recalled” Zorvan said.

“Why isn’t this rule advertised?” Adam asked though he thought he knew the answer.

“Unknown, though if I was to guess, I would say because the Multitude wants to know what type of leader a person really is. Not what they will do to conform to rules.”

“Good to know, and thanks for the explanation,” Adam said.

Adam was really glad he hadn’t decided to just wipe everyone out during one of his system invasions. Not that he would have. Killing indiscriminately was not something he enjoyed doing, though he was quite sure he was capable of doing it if it was necessary.

Al’s voice came through the speakers, “Adam, Emperors can be Bloodhunted for not taking care of their subjects and you still don’t know why everyone is going through a Unification and Classification yet. Sounds to me like a lot more is going on than is readily apparent,” Al said.

“True,” Adam agreed as he pondered his next steps. A moment later he said,

“Thor, A portal to the staging base to pick up the spare ship, if you, please? Also, might as well build another spare ship, just in case,” Adam said.

A portal opened and Adam stepped through into the spare ship in the asteroid belt. He made his way to the cockpit and sat down, “Thor If you’d be so kind as to get me back into that system. It’s time to find that System Lord.”

“On it. It will take us 10 trips through ten different solar systems to get there. As you know it won’t take that long, but we do have to transverse 10 solar systems,” Thor said.

“Understood,” Adam said as he sat back and reviewed what he’d been doing for the last three months. The more he conquered, the more he came to realize that the varieties of sentient beings out in the various cosmos, seemed very similar. That the Multitude put them into an artificial conflict meant that either they were doing so for sport, or something else was going on and the participants were being prepared for something.

At the very start, he’d created the ship Thor was recreating for him and tried to take it back to Earth’s universe. Every attempt failed. Dimensional travel, except to the Astral Plane when he died, was blocked both technologically and magically. So, the Pelza Cruiser he’d created became his Flagship. He’d upgraded the shields and weapons. The shields could take a nuke going off, easily. If the shields weren’t active, the hull of the ship might survive but everything would be damaged in such an environment. It was nothing that his nanites couldn’t fix but he had to get back to the ship to do so or bring the ship back to this system either to his facility in the Asteroid Belt or to Skunkworks on the planet.

Normally, Skunkworks was used for creating his bigger ships and also had ancillary facilities within the stabilization field which made it easy to procure exotic materials that he couldn’t find within his empire. He’d even set up a hospital within the field that people could be transferred to for chronic illness or damage to have it completely repaired. While he couldn’t give everyone immortality, he could ease some of their suffering, so long as they remained loyal to the Empire.

Of course, after only a month the individual he’d left in charge of the facility had decided that they could hack the nanites and do with them what they wanted. They’d even prepared to have Adam killed by the nanites when he’d arrived. It had been painful but his hit points and regeneration had weathered the damage until he wrested control back with Technomancy. What followed next would not be looked upon by anyone writing his biography as one of his best moments. He had systematically analyzed and copied every part of the man before he’d destroyed him. Someone could even say that part of him lived on within Adam, as so many others did that he’d absorbed.

Adam focused his thoughts on the present. Now, he was more concerned about a System Lord that had no regard for the lives of his subjects. Without the ability to release nanites over the entire system, he’d have to go old school to find the Piece Of Shit (POS). As Thor guided the ship through the various wormholes and solar systems to get back to the solar system he’d just died in, Adam started reviewing the technological level of the planet and started using his Mold Chaos ability to make satellites in the hold of the ship. Once he arrived he’d release them into orbit and let them find the prick for him. If he was hiding, he’d remain in communication with his subjects. All he had to do was find that signal.

***

“What do you mean you can’t break through the shield and recover the technology?” Emperor Snelith asked heatedly through the communications monitor on his base hidden within the moon.

“Our scans from orbit indicate that the shield was forming even as the nuclear device went off. We believe sensors on the ship detected the initial energy discharge which should not have been possible because only a nanosecond later the explosion occurred. Even so, the ship was damaged as the shield sprung up. We can verify that the ship was damaged, but the shield remains active.”

“You are sure that this Adam character was in the Throne room when the nuke went off under his feet?”

“Yes, Sire. We had multiple recording devices that proved that he was there.

“Then why haven’t I received a notification that he is dead?

Just then there was a small hissing sound as a portal opened into space and the atmosphere, and the Emperor was sucked out into space where he was grabbed by the back of the neck and slowed down as the suffocating feeling of being in a vacuum subsided and he felt that he could breathe again.

Emperor Snelith, A voice said into his brain even though there was no atmosphere to transmit the sound. Don’t concern yourself, my technology has modified your body so I can talk to you for a moment. It’s also what is allowing you to survive in the Vacuum of space between your planet and the moon.

What? How? Emperor Snelith asked.

As I said, nothing for you to worry about, the voice said into this mind as he started accelerating away from the planet at a speed that rivaled the ships Emperor Snelith had. We’re accelerating to about 25% of the speed of light. That’s about 245.9 million feet per second. Not to worry any micro meteors that hit you will be repaired, though they will probably hurt. Of course if one goes through your head…

Just then a ship flew past them and took up a position in front of them.

That’s better. We’ll just trail behind the ship as we talk. Its shields should protect you from micrometeorites and dust so we don’t kill you too soon. Besides, we want your audience to see,” Adam said into his mind.

Why are you doing this? Emperor Snelith asked.

If you can’t figure that out… Anyway, enjoy the trip. You should arrive at the sun in about 24 minutes. Not to worry you’ll be blind and long dead before you get to touch it. Me, I have a System to claim, Adam sent as he teleported into the ship and had it adjust the course so the shield would still shield Emperor Snelith from micrometeorites but Emperor Snelith could watch his doom approach.

Emperor Snelith watched as the Sun grew closer and closer and prayed that something would kill him. The ship just a little way in front of him seemed to be doing a very good job of preventing that from happening thought. How could this man, this monster that he’d destroyed with a nuke be back to do this to him? Whatever Adam had done to him kept him alive and healthy for the next 12 minutes without issue. At that point, the ship rose out of his path and he started to get hit by the particles of the sun’s solar wind. Emperor Snelith began to burn faster and faster. So fast that the technology that was keeping him alive, failed. Two minutes later he was blind and a minute after that the only thing left had been the nanites which evaporated a moment later.

***

Adam had made sure to stay within a hundred feet of the Emperor as he hurled toward the Sun. Safe within his ship he kept Technomancy active to make sure the Emperor didn’t die immediately. He could have killed him outright, but he’d been transmitting the death of the emperor to Thor, who was broadcasting it to the Emperor’s Empire.

Adam had the ship come to a stop with the Emperor’s ashes as a backdrop behind him outside the ship before he looked at the Camera’s point of view within the ship and spoke to the deceased emperor’s subjects, “Greetings unto you, members of the Snelith Empire. I am Adam. I will be returning to your planet shortly to claim it. Changes to your society will be implemented immediately as you are brought into the Adamantium Autocracy of which I am the System Lord or Emperor. Your previous Emperor detonated a nuclear device within your capital city and turned a lot of your fellow citizens to ash. I am a firm believer that a punishment should fit the crime. Therefore, he, in turn, has been turned to ash. I will do what I can for those that were injured and will help you rebuild that city with my contribution points. Resistance of any kind will be met swiftly and harshly. Loyalty will be rewarded. Information is incoming”

Adam cut the feed and had the ship fly through the ash cloud, obliterating it against the ship’s shields.

“Thor, after we arrived and dropped off the Satellites, how many nuclear devices did we detect?” Adam asked.

“It looks like there’s a uranium mine on the planet and that they were making the nukes on their own.

“Okay, so how many?”

“Records indicate that he had 122 in his stockpile, 121 after the detonation,” Thor said.

“Damn, looks like we have our work cut out for us.”

Adam left the ship, activated Obscure, Flight, Freedom of Flight, and Technomancy, and flew around the planet to every location a nuclear device was located as the ship made its way back toward the planet at a leisurely speed. He flew around until he was within a hundred feet of a nuke, released his nanites, and had them convert any explosive or radioactive material they came across to an inert substance. Uranium was turned to lead and plastique was converted to Play-Doh. Three hours later he returned to the ship and had it fly into orbit and docked at the Administrator Station for this Empire.

As he’d suspected, some of the military leaders decided that they would take matters into their own hands and tried to detonate nuclear devices on the station he’d deactivated. Which was lucky for them as the Multitude did not take kindly to those that destroyed their direct staff.

Immediately, the drones he had in orbit over each site that transmitted a detonation code to a nuclear device were vaporized from orbit. Some innocent combatants were taken out but the weapons fired from the drones were a lot more discreet than a nuke going off.

He also made sure the officer and his staff that had decided the attack was a good idea were also destroyed. He wasn’t going to leave such obvious idiots to try to thwart his efforts as he consolidated his holdings within the system.

Adam made his way to the System Crystal and touched it.

Would you like to add Snelith’s Empire to the Adamantium Autocracy, Yes or No?

Adam chose “Yes”

Zorvan teleported into the room, “That makes 25% of the Sector Adam, Congratulations!”

“Why is that important?” Adam asked as new notifications appeared in his vision.

Congratulations! You have achieved the conquest of 25% of the Sector. The next closest System Lord only controls 13% of the Sector.

You are now the Sector Lord Pro Tem. Meet with your fellow System Lords and Claim the title of Sector Lord.

Reward? Reward determined by Contribution.

Sector Lord Pro Tem huh? “Zorvan as Sector Lord Pro Tem do I have access to maps of the entire sector now, even with the Fogs of War in place?”

“You do,” Zorvan said as a holographic display of their sector materialized in the room and Adam could easily see the entire layout. As he looked at the display he realized that his Empire was smack dab in the middle of everything. Currently, it looked like he owned 51 of 204 solar systems. Now, though, he could see every single system and could work to take over areas strategically. On the Galactic disc, the area that made up this sector was roughly 33% of the disc. Adam wondered if he’d have to fight for the other 66% of the galaxy after he finished with the Sector conquest.

Adam linked to Thor, came up with a plan, and implemented it. For this next part, he would make full use of the soldiers within his Empire. An hour later he contacted Zorvan through the terminal.

“Zorvan,”

“Yes, Adam?”

“I haven’t asked in a bit, how am I doing on Contribution Points?”

“As every ship you create gives you Contribution points, and every citizen gives Contribution and you’ve been reinvesting all points back into the empire, except a small percentage…You are currently paying everyone double the normal contribution wage and taxes are incredibly low. Even the Systems you’ve conquered are, for the most part, happy with you. The three, now four, out of 51 systems you’ve been heavy-handed with are included, though the data for this last system is a little sparse as yet. The information package of their new reality and immediate wage increases has just gone out,” Zorvan said.

“That’s fine. And the search for the names I’ve given you for each system we’ve secured?” Adam asked.

“They are not here,” Zorvan said.

“Now that I’m a Sector Lord Pro Tem can I search other sectors?” Adam asked.

“You must be a Sector Lord and you would need to contact other Sector Lords to and ask them to search. The odds that they would be in one of the Sectors that already contains a Sector Lord are very low, given the time you have been on your Trial for Supremacy.

“I kind of figured that. Okay, Thor, Al, and Zorvan. We are going to go into a full-scale invasion and conquer mode. Thor, we are the Borg. Al and Zorvan…”

“I understand the reference,” Al said.

“Zorvan, what that means is that we are going to assimilate every system as quickly as we can,” Adam said.

“I thought you were already doing that?”

“No, we haven’t been doing that,” Adam said.

“Not even close,” Thor affirmed.

“Strip the gas giants, unless you find life within them of course, the old rules still apply Thor. As the Capital System is artificial I don’t think we’ll be having too many issues. Since we’re going to be doing this Contribution points will probably be coming in quite a bit. Increase all wages for warriors to triple and let’s set up armies that can go out and conquer quickly,” Adam said.

“Mechanized infantry as well?” Thor asked.

“Shielded and when possible, initial forces are to use non-lethal force. Individuals that break the rules have their pay reduced to normal for a full month and cannot participate in the acquisition and sorting in unexplored areas. A second transgression gets them put on support duties only for a full year. We want people to join us and be happy to work with us. As always those that are ruthless and violent have their uses and they will be kept for those empires with a blood thirty bent that we need to make an example of. As Always though, keep them one step behind the other troops, just in case.”

“This will take a little while to get started,” Thor said.

“Get what started?” Zorvan asked, “Everything you just mentioned can be purchased through the Collaboration market.”

“For the last three months, I’ve been taking it easy as I became acclimated to the Multitude and the Contribution Points System it uses. Now that I know about the rule about being ruthless, I can adjust my strategy and we can proceed much quicker than we were.” Adam pauses and ran some simulations in his mind, then started talking out loud to the room. “We have 153 systems to claim. Probably two hours to get the matter converter set up, and two to three minutes per ship. Maybe an hour to get the first army equipped. We should be able to produce 47 armies relatively easily from the systems that agreed to join without a fight, especially with the increased pay and safety.

“That sounds about right Adam,” Thor said.

“I concur,” Al chimed in.

“So 47 hours to get the Armies in play and moving. If we take one system per day and lock down the wormholes with our navy after each system is taken we should be able to expand quickly.”

“Sounds right,” Thor said.

“Zorvan, do the warriors in my armies get personal Contribution Points based on how much they participate in conquering new planets and systems?” Adam asked.

“Yes, some of those conquered will want to join the fighting as soon as possible.”

“We can do that. On days 51, and 102. That will give Thor and Al enough time to create all the equipment the warriors we’ll need as well as the ships necessary to maintain our borders. Eventually, we should have enough armies to simultaneously take over three solar systems at the same time,” Adam said.

“This plan sounds a bit Ambitious,” Zorvan said.

“That’s because I haven’t pulled out the big guns yet,” Adam said with a smile.

“Big guns?”

“We have been quite limited here,” Thor said. “I also had to make sure certain technologies that were theoretical actually worked. As they do, we can start. Adam I’ll need you to purchase Stabilization Arrays and place them in every system we control. We're going to need a lot of mass.

“That shouldn’t be an issue,” Adam said. “Zorvan purchase one stabilization array with a 1-mile radius for each system we currently control then add one array for each system we conquer into the budget. Thor, we still can’t open portals between systems?” Adam asked.

“Zorvan nodded as Thor said, “Nope, the interference that is preventing your Planar Travel ability from working also prevents any teleportation or FTL travel between systems. We have to use the wormholes,” Thor said.

“I’d love to know how they’re doing that,” Adam said. “It’s a non-issue at this point though. Thor, the best technologies we’ve ever devised, over-whelming force and protection. Zorvan, get the changes made and announce the new wages for warriors. I’m going to purchase the Stabilization arrays and visit each of the systems and get our other 50 new manufacturing facilities up and running. Thor, you might want to focus on drone production for the defense of those facilities to begin with.

“On it, The drones will be following you and catching up as the facilities start manufacturing themselves,” Thor said.

“As you wish Adam,” Zorvan said, a little worriedly.

“No need to be worried Zorvan, I’ve been holding back until this point. The Multitude has no idea what I’m capable of,” Adam said.

Zorvan ordered the Stabilization Arrays and Adam stored each in his Shadow Vault as Zorvan purchased them. When he had 51, he teleported to his ship, took his seat, and headed off to the systems he controlled.

For the next couple of hours, Adam visited each system, sought out the asteroid belt within that solar system, if there was one, or found a moon near a gas giant and set up a manufacturing base with a stabilization array and nanites that were defended by four drones. An abridged copy of Thor was left that was quantumly linked to him and the production of a facility that could support portals within the system as well as the production of ships was set in motion. Adam didn’t wait around for that, fully confident that Thor could handle it. While portals didn’t work between solar systems, the communication channels through quantum links seemed to work just fine, like his link to Zorvan.

When that was done, Adam cloaked the ship and went to investigate the systems his forces would be moving into shortly. He was going to have his forces move toward one of the borders of the sector and then start to spread out from there. That way he would at least have his hypothetical back to a wall of some sort.

While he was flying around and investigating the various systems, which didn’t seem to have any defenses of note, he worked with Thor to make sure the ships, drones, and personal equipment would keep his citizens safe as well as prevent mass casualties in any system he invaded. They also devised a plan that would drop stealth sensors into orbit around every planet to determine if weapons of mass destruction were in play. If they were, Adam would search them out and nullify them before his forces landed. If not, he’d let the forces take over each planet in short order then move on to the System Lord’s Administrator Station.

Another thing he added was the distribution of Contribution Points to his most loyal followers. If someone claimed a planet or system in his name they received a significant boost in Contribution Points. Adam made sure the generals understood that each of them could claim one node per planet they oversaw the acquisition of. After that, they were to spread the wealth around and make sure every member of the army had an opportunity to claim a domain node. The Administrator Nodes were left for the top lieutenants and the Generals and Admirals. They took turns from system to system.

Adam hoped to do things this way to engender loyalty among everyone. He wanted everyone to strive toward earning the right to be the person claiming a domain and earning those extra contribution points.

As he approached the 47-hour mark Adam made his way back to his Capital System and exited the wormhole to see an armada of ships. It looked like something out of one of his space simulation games.

“Thor, how long until everyone is loaded and ready to go?” Adam asked.

“Troops are standing by on the planets. They were all brought here and given 16 hours of R&R near facilities built up near the Skunkworks where we could support them without spending too many Contribution Points. When you give the order they’ll portal onto each ship and be ready to go within 30 minutes,” Thor said.

“If we’re allowed to have one Stabilization array for every planet and we only have one per system plus one extra. Zorvan, look at getting us six more and increasing the radius around Skunkworks

“The 5-mile radius ones?” Zorvan asked.

“Yes, will that be a problem?” Adam asked.

“Not at all, the amount of Contribution Points you are now generating is measured in quadrillions. You have far more Contribution Points invested into this Empire than is expected,” Zorvan said

“That’s fine, we’ll need them to keep expanding and keep the momentum up. If we’re ready, let’s begin the loading procedures and get this party started,” Adam said.