The Martial Unity

A small part of her considered suspending the operation, but a more practical part of her simply decided to call for reinforcements ahead of time, just to be safe.

“Rest assured, our fleet has accounted for the worst-case scenario,” Sage Zentral reassured her. “We have brought heavyweights with us this time. Including many Martial Sages and also Martial Artists above even Martial Sages. We will be prepared when the time comes.”

“We too have made similar preparations,” the burly voice from a male therianthrope drew their attention. The man was half man and half lion, with his upper body covered in a mane and a lion’s head, indicating a particularly powerful pathwalker with a particularly powerful engineered beast from the Narsimha Clan, one of the most powerful clans of the Pasupati Clans of Kiriket.

“We, too, have increased the number of mechs at our disposal,” the dwarven representative remarked with a more serious voice. “This particular infected world is shaping up to be something… special, it seems.”

“On that note, our prophetic intelligence also suggests a similar likelihood,” Sage Zentra transmitted files to all of them. “The Silas Clan foresees that this infected world will be highly unusual. However, they were unable to provide details beyond that, I’m afraid.”

Arastia fell into thought at those words. If the Silas Clan had foretold it, then it was almost certainly true. The Era of Expansion had been very unkind to the strategic utility of prophecy, unfortunately. Because the scope of the civilization had increased beyond their prophecy’s ability to keep up. Because their prophetic power was an extreme version of existing predictive mechanics, it wasn’t useful for phenomena beyond their cosmic locality.

Predicting things about another star system light-years away was impossible and required feeding them information from that region. But because of the limited throughput and the endless demand for cross-system communication, they weren’t able to feed them as much information as they would have liked.

Regardless, if the prophecy was true, then it was both a great opportunity and a risk. Regardless, it was one that she had already taken, and she couldn’t afford to back out now.

“Let us continue with our current plan of action,” Arastia offered after some thought. “Our priority is to ensure that we get a large share, ideally the entire share, of the pie and to prevent our enemies from having more than we do. If we work together, we should still be able to achieve that goal. Any anomaly with the planet itself will affect everybody equally, so it shouldn’t change the fact that we should work together in accordance with established protocol.”

“I concur,” the evosapien representative of the West Moridian fleet remarked with a serious nod. “Our current plan involves three steps, starting with bombing the planet with the Samsara Tide, a weapon that each of us has. Then, once the alien virus has been destroyed, we shall immediately send in our ground teams and commence the establishment of a mining industrial complex. Meanwhile, we maintain orbital, aerial, and terrestrial defense lines. I propose we continue with this plan and adapt to any anomalies as they come, agreed?”

“Agreed.”

The leaders discussed pressing matters regarding the movements of forces they were opposed to. The alliance between the Evolutionary Army and the Blood Cult was one of the most troubling alliances in human civilization. Even though they were both racially supremacist forces for different races, they recognized a common enemy and worked together.

They weren’t the only ones, of course. There were countless other organizations and movements that did not appreciate the current order of human civilization. Many of these organizations worked together with the Blood Cult and Evolutionary Army.

“We have also detected the Skollvoil Pirate Fleet moving towards Planet Sarantel,” Arastia reminded them. “They will not challenge us for the resources, but rather the resources of our ships. We will need to be wary of them as well.”

In the Era of Expansion, the capacity for surveillance of all of space was simply too limited. There was too much space and ships, and people were simply too small in comparison, leading to a resurgence in piracy. “Rest assured, our pirate patrol is on high alert,” the leader of the Jakarthar fleet informed them. “At the very least, they won’t be able to use Arima III to get here, and that will delay them, making detecting them much easier.”

Arastia turned towards the Jakarthar fleet leader with a composed expression, even if internally, she scowled at him. She knew that the President of the Jakarthar Federation was trying to find Ria because she could be used to ultimately get the Emperor of Water to move, even if they weren’t aware of her true identity.

The thought of anybody targeting Ria made her extremely angry, but she controlled her emotions and let it slide. There was no point in blowing up here and now, especially when this particular fleet leader was likely completely ignorant of everything that mattered.

“I’m glad we have established an understanding,” she replied with a tone of finality. “If there’s nothing else, then I’ll return. Goodbye.”

BZZZT

The meeting ended. She opened her eyes, returning to the material world around her. “Your Excellency,” her assistant spoke to her with a concerned tone. “A fight has broken out between the pathwalkers in the lounge.”

“What?” She asked with gritted teeth. “Those fools. Are they really fighting on a ship in FTL? Where is this? Who is involved?”

“I’ll transmit you the footage, Madam President.”

Arastia nearly crashed out when the footage featured none other than Ria, standing in front of a grim Sternon protectively, defending from none other than Martial Artists like herself

“Why do you defend him, lass?” One Martial Sage sneered with a derisive grin. “Do you know what he is?”

Ria’s amber eyes flared with anger as she took another step in front of him. “He’s my friend. And I won’t tolerate anybody who insults and harasses a friend of mine. Especially not when it’s done by assholes like you!”