1006 to 1008

1006 - A Week Into the Month-Long Campaign

Total domination. That is what the empire's forces could be described as, the moment the main forces started attacking and targeting the lower-level civilizations.

In a single week, the imperial forces had successfully taken over all of the civilizations below the top fifty. They had faced heavy resistance at the start, but after each civilization had one of their military bases, parliaments, or one of their military strategic locations sent out of existence with a different weapon from the last one used on other civilizations, the resistance was instantly reduced to nearly nonexistent. The majority of leaders and the richest people of these civilizations tried to escape their civilization's territory, paying exorbitant prices or bribes to the powerful civilizations to save themselves.

Some who had something desirable managed to get their proposal accepted and successfully escaped the inevitable end. Some of them failed to pay the needed price before the imperial forces finished taking over the planets they were on. For those who had spaceships but not enough leverage or desirable materials to trade for a wormhole to be opened for them to escape, they boarded their ships that were packed to the brim with materials and just entered light speed, heading in a random direction, ready to remain in their ships until things calmed down before they even considered returning. As a result, they left behind only those who were poor enough to not even afford a ticket on one of these escaping ships.

This allowed the empire to easily capture some of the planets, as anyone who had a semblance of governmental power had used it to save themselves, knowing that facing imperial forces meant an assured loss.

Immediately after capturing a planet, the imperial forces remained on patrol as the imperial citizens' avatars were then sent to the planet to start taking over control, ensuring security and a direct line for the empire to control the planet, even as the mini-fleets left and headed to another star system on their list.

Thanks to Dreznor having already carved out a large part of the lower-level star systems before the war even started, it allowed for the process of taking over all of the lower-level star systems to be very easy. He really didn’t have an ambition to become a leader; even his current position was all because he wanted to end slavery, per the promise he gave his family the day they were massacred amidst their escape attempt.

To repay him for the hard work he had put in, together with him easily handing over all of the planets he had captured without as much as reluctance, the empire left him to maintain the position of transitioning the slaves into normal people. This was basically him retaining the power to do the same thing he had done to all the planets he had taken over, which made him even more grateful to the empire.

He seemed to have been reinvigorated now that he didn’t have to focus on leading planets, but only dealing with the slavery situation, which he did with full force, going through the same process he did in the past, this time with the empire's full open support. Imperial citizens were the ones responsible for enforcing all of the collection processes for the previous slave owners, and the imperial citizens on those planets did so with all of their enthusiasm, as they were both against slavery but also because doing all of this allowed them to continue accumulating Merit Points, which everyone was working hard to gather.

……………..

“Give a status update on the possible coordinates of where that thing is leading,” a fleet admiral asked, walking back and forth as he nervously pointed at one of the ship's walls that was in transparent mode, as images captured by the 360 cameras were wrapped around the room, making it look no different than them being in a transparent room with no protections.

On the other end of his finger was a massive wormhole about a thousand kilometers in diameter that had been open for a whole week with nothing coming from the other side, forcing everyone on this side to remain ready and active for the entire duration.

This was one of the many ways the empire used to keep each civilization isolated and fully focused on securing their safety by targeting their self-preservation instinct, making it so that the chances of them being attacked were not zero. The moment that instinct was triggered, no one would want to help anyone else, since doing that meant risking leaving an opening for the empire to exploit, resulting in a situation where the empire had the freedom to choose which civilization to target and take over, while everyone else was left to do nothing but watch it happen.

However, that didn’t mean everyone was going to remain watching it happen without trying to do something. At the start, quite a few civilizations attempted to send a fleet to face the empire on the other side so that they could catch them by surprise while they were still in the middle of preparations, only to either find themselves locked inside a spatial prison that was activated the moment they exited the wormhole, leaving them stranded and incapable of returning to act as backup for their empire. Others had also tried to receive absolute coordinates from the civilizations under attack in order to drop bombs on those civilizations. Although it had succeeded momentarily, it was immediately dealt with by doubling whatever they dropped in a civilization's star system, no matter what they sent. If they didn’t stop, the empire would just accelerate its plan and send a fleet towards them to properly deal with them.

Many other tactics were attempted as a response, but none of them managed to slow down the imperial forces to a level that justified their continued use, which ended with the current situation where every civilization was fully focused on preparing itself for the inevitable. 

At least, that was the situation for those below the top ten civilizations, as the empire seemed to have left the top ten in peace at the moment. This seemed to have allowed them to form an alliance of complementing each other's technology through fleet exchanges to cover all of their weaknesses and benefit everyone else with their strengths, which gave them quite a high confidence to be able to at least stall the empire long enough before they could deal with them once the empire cracked under the might of having to control and deal with all the problems that would arise from having to forcefully take over all of the civilizations. 

This had resulted in the majority of their prior leadership just being captured, escaping, or killed, leaving them with none of their previous government structure, something they knew was problematic enough that it had stopped them from annexing all of the civilizations and even proposing the formation of a Conclave, since it gave them similar levels of control without the hassle of micromanaging everything.

“The coordinates of the other side keep changing every second, making it difficult for us to pinpoint or approximate it, sir,” the navigation officer, who hadn’t slept for the last week, answered. His eyes were bloodshot from sleep deprivation as he shook slightly from both the lack of sleep and from receiving the reprimand from the admiral, who seemed to be losing his mind from anger and nervousness over the inevitable that kept taking longer and longer to happen.

“SON’S OF UNAWAKENED WHORE!!!!!!!!”

1007 - Death to Preserve Dignity

Inside a luxurious office that looked to have been handcrafted by experienced craftsmen who had worked on it for the best parts of their lifetimes, at the peak of their craftsmanship, with the same being true for the furniture, everyone within seemed too exhausted and worried to even appreciate the beauty and hours, if not lifetimes, it took to perfect everything.

With the situation having turned into each man for himself, even the beauty that used to take the breath away from anyone who entered the room, no matter how many times they had visited or seen it previously, wasn’t enough to bring them out of their current thoughts. They carelessly sat in chairs that they would have previously requested someone be killed for sullying, but the situation allowed for nothing of that sort.

“What are they saying about this? Any action plan they proposed or chances that they will accept our action plan?” Lebeebee, the leader of the Lugtakabu civilization, asked his group of advisors, who all looked to have lost color on their faces.

Following the question, the room fell into silence as the leader waited for an answer while the advisors waited for one of their fellows to be the one to bite the bullet and respond, as they didn’t know what sort of reaction they would receive from Lebeebee. Stressful situations result in unexpected responses.

After a full minute of silence, the advisors all knew that delaying it any longer would be a problem. Although they knew one of them needed to bite the bullet and solve the problem, not one of them wanted to sacrifice themselves. Not until the third minute passed did one of them decide to speak, knowing that there was a chance that he would be considered brave by the leader, who might punish those who left it to him to explain. He nervously said, “They didn’t even respond to our request for communications. It seems they deemed us as a liability and think that their fellow top-ten civilizations are the only ones worthy of being in the new alliance against the empire, and anyone other than that is considered to be unworthy.”

“Then what does that make the bombing of Nymari? If they were going to abandon us the moment the empire started fully fighting back, why not allow us to reach out to the empire and solve it diplomatically when they were going to abandon the Conclave alliance the instant they faced a full pushback? WHAT COWARDS!” As Lebeebee asked more and more questions, his tone rose higher and higher. Although he wasn’t expecting an answer, he was still feeling angry over the situation as the room once again returned to silence.

“What are our chances of fighting back against the empire?” he asked after ten minutes of total silence.

“Near zero. The moment they attack a civilization, they usually match them to their strongest estimation and always have fleets ready for reinforcements,” the same advisor once again answered, this time not delaying at all, as every other advisor was looking at him the moment the question was finished.

“........ To think all of our planning brings us to this situation,” Lebeebee said as he looked down at the table that had a beauty defying logic, but found himself parsing through it as if it were a worthless table amidst his mind that was in turmoil. He followed his defeated words with, “Contact the empire and start talking about the conditions of surrender.” With a heavy heart, he decided to take the best possible route that would reduce the level of wrath the empire was going to show them.

“But, sir, the Conclave is going to retaliate if we do that! They'd rather we fight to the last man than surrender,” one of the advisors who had been silent through the previous conversation shouted, trying to argue against it.

“What difference does it make when they are holding back their forces in preparation to welcome the empire? Do you think they will have time to bother with how our situation ends? To them, it is no different if we surrendered or if we were fully defeated, so just fucking go ahead with it before I hang you for your cowardice,” Lebeebee said, his eyes fully bloodshot, scaring the shit out of the advisors as they saw him being on the verge of snapping. If that happened, it would be bad news for them, so everyone rushed to leave, not wanting to remain alone with him in his current condition.

“To think the mighty Conclave that survived fighting tens of interstellar wars would fall to a civilization that had only two star systems under its belt, and the one they underestimated the most. Quite ironic,” he said in a defeated tone.

“The empire promised to not harm anyone who is not involved in return for our unconditional surrender,” one of the advisors returned to report to him the empire's response.

“Good, accept it, and I will pay for the punishment of everyone,” Lebeebee said before his hand glowed and sank into his chest, removing what looked like a black ball covered in dark goo that was shaking every few microseconds. A thin stream of black goo came out of his mouth as he said, “Make sure they keep their promise, as I kept mine,” before falling face-first onto the table that was a craftsmanship masterpiece, dying together with the last bit of dignity his civilization was going to ever have.

Quite a few individuals had chosen the same route, knowing that the empire was going to employ ruthless means in order to bring back stability. They could also guess the most likely candidates who were going to be used for that demonstration, which were either politicians or rich people. Nothing soothes or calms the average person more than seeing the people who exploited and ruled over them killed, as they will side with the one who killed them, believing they will have a better future through them. They forget that it is no different than just changing a warden, with the prison remaining the same. The only change might be the walls having flowers painted over them, but that paint only lasts so long before it returns to its previous look.

For many, similar happenings made it clear that the end of the Conclave had finally come, and at the moment, they were under the mercy of the Empire.

1008 - Ode to Sacrifice

While those below the top fifty were already conquered, and those below the top ten were shaking in fear as they either prepared to fight or surrender, the top ten were already getting to work to make themselves as prepared as possible.

The ten of the eleven top ten civilizations were already in the midst of bolstering their defenses with the expectation that the empire would be gradually moving up the list during its Conclave-conquering spree. They were using the lower civilizations as a calculated sacrifice to buy themselves enough time for their defenses to reach a situation where they could fight the empire on equal footing, if not fully prevent them from entering their territories.

They saw that an outside enemy is the best solution for the one who desires inside unity, and it had finally been proven true on an interstellar level. The civilizations that had been doing their best to keep each other in check, despite being united under a single Conclave, were now working together jointly, even at the risk of their technologies leaking to others due to the level of the approaching threat, which left them no chance to fight for their individual safety.

With one of them already withdrawing from the Conclave and directly surrendering to the empire, without them knowing exactly how the empire had accomplished that, it was obvious that the force they were facing was more formidable than it was when they had faced it for the first time during its infancy. With the evidence they had gathered about the new empire, it was very clear to everyone that the empire had managed to decrypt all of their encrypted knowledge, which they had freely given when they were confident that the empire was not capable of accessing it. The empire had proven them wrong, meaning they were now facing an enemy who had access to their combined knowledge in their best fields. This meant that a single one of them couldn't fight the empire alone, as the empire would use their weaknesses to attack them. They could only have a chance to stand against them if they stood united.

As a result, Trinarians, who were masters of space and were never invited into any other star system for fear of them gathering spatial coordinates, were provided with the spatial coordinates of the remaining top ten civilizations' capitals for them to directly head there, destabilize the space within those star systems, and scramble the spatial coordinates to prevent the opening of any wormhole that didn’t have access to the new ones.

The Shadari, who were feared due to their stealth but also never enjoyed being in the spotlight, were seen for the first time in the other top ten civilizations' territories, delivering means to defend against their phasing weapons that the empire was currently using as their spear tip of attack.

The Zelvora, who were feared for their mental network and as a result were not allowed in other civilizations in a group of ten or more, were now arriving in each of the top ten's star systems in groups of hundreds to create a psychic shield around the planets so that what they had done to the imperial citizens inside the space stations at the start of the war wouldn't happen back to them, while also protecting entire planets from manipulation. At the same time, they were creating a backup communication system should the empire sabotage the mana communication nodes that they were now relying on after having destroyed all of the VR towers around their star systems.

The Symmetra (Kha'Sar), who replaced all of their weak parts with technology, leaving only their brain and other critical parts of their bodies biological, allowing them to have the benefit of both a strong body and a strong mind, and were known for their unrivaled blacksmithing and weapon artisanship, were now opening their ancient storage to share their weapons. This also acted as an acknowledgment of what everyone had hypothesized in the past: that they were only selling their inferior weapons while keeping the perfect and best ones. These perfect weapons were now being spread to the strongest individuals across the top ten civilizations, preparing them for the inevitable face-off that was going to take place against imperial forces and the never-ending imperial avatars.

The Erythian, who were known as masters of bioengineering, had their ships carrying their cannon fodder monsters, together with their strongest monsters ever created by them, heading towards the most important star systems of the top ten civilizations to act as the first line of defense against the first line of imperial forces that would arrive.

The Yrral Coalition, known as the industrial and manufacturing backbone of the Conclave, who were also known as the most greedy and stingy civilization, was now almost selflessly redirecting all of its production capacity into producing everything that was needed for this final stand against the empire, with all the civilizations providing the raw materials that they had been storing in their strategic reserves.

The Galvinith, who were also known as masters of biological symbiosis, sent the best of their fighters, who were perfectly bonded to their symbionts, to every important star system so that they could ensure the best chances for all of them.

The Valthorin, best known as a race of warriors with very big pride in themselves but ruthless and cunning against outsiders, found their leader extending that pride and honor to cover all of the remaining top ten civilizations as they too dispatched their forces to all of the top ten star systems.

The Feyn civilization, which should have been celebrating the fall of the Elara civilization, was not doing that at all, as they too were sending forces to all the top ten civilizations to cover the void of their expertise in magic engineering, bringing with them magic engineering weapons that would be helpful to the war. They were taking this situation the most seriously since anyone who could deal with Elara and make them surrender would not have much difficulty doing the same to them if they had enough time. After all, the two were eternal rivals, and neither of them would feel happy at the fall of the other if they were not the cause of it.

Finally, the Xor’Vak, who were known as the strongest race in the Conclave, now found themselves being sent to the other top ten civilizations to help in their defense. But instead of the core forces being sent, the Grand Xor’Vak had elected to send faction members of the many successors who were looking to take his throne from him in the future, as he made it not hidden at all to the members of his civilization the displeasure he was having for being forced to do this. The empire had taken what he considered to be fully his by having already killed more than a hundred members of one of their insubordinate civilizations, who looked the closest to humans, as an attempt to vent his anger, which didn’t seem to be going away at all.

As a result of the Terra Empire, the top ten were now in their most united form ever, covering each of their own weaknesses through the strength of others. With the wormhole lane project the empire had planned to finish across the Conclave being recreated by the Trinarians with manastones from all of the top ten civilizations, so as to ensure no side was left weak and all of them would receive reinforcements the moment they were facing a pushback from the imperial forces, which they expected to arrive in about a month. This was the time they expected it would take for the empire to deal with all the sacrifices they had set up. They were now confident that the empire also most likely had access to even their private VR planets that they had been made to believe were fully secured under their own proprietary quantum encryption algorithms.

The fight was inevitable, so they were doing their best to face it in their best form ever possible. Ode to unity.