The Martial Unity

While Ria’s party quickly prepared for the trip to Gaia Prime, Arastia was way ahead of her. She arrived before a floating sphere-like structure set atop a platform in a large, extravagant building with teams of engineers and technicians behind glass walls around the edge of the establishment.

”I’m glad to be of any help to you, President Arastia.” A familiar man stood before her, speaking to her with a perfunctory tone. He wore custom-tailored fabric fashioned from esoteric substances. A heavy perfume emerged from him, assaulting her nose.

”I’m glad you could prepare the wormhole transit system for me, President Sermoun Jarkarthar.” She smiled at him. ”The Jakarthar Federation has truly been kind to me and the Blood Humanist Society.”

The man before her, of course, was the head of state and government of the Jarkarthar Federation, the polity that owned Planet Sarantel. She had had a meeting with the man just a day before the Blood Arc took off to the Strehegeld Star System, regarding the infected world.

He had hoped that she could call upon the Emperor of Water to personally dispense of the infected world himself. A desire that, in hindsight, had worked exactly as the man wished. The lucky bastard.

”Don’t be humble, Your Excellency.” He addressed her with great respect and misplaced gratitude. ”You handled the infected world splendidly. And don’t think I didn’t notice that you have fulfilled my request. I am deeply indebted to you for the appearance of none other than His Divine Majesty!”

She raised an eyebrow.

Had he become a convert into the Virodhabhasa Faith or the Dawn Faith? She could see why he thought that she was the reason that her elder brother had made an appearance in the Strehegeld Star System. But Arastia knew better.

He had come for Ria.

Still, she couldn’t tell the man that. Especially when he had tried nosing into who Ria was. And it didn’t hurt to take credit when it couldn’t be disproven; she would get a big favor from the President that would be useful when the time came.

”You’re welcome, President Sermoun.” She smiled at him. ”Now, if you don’t mind, I would like to use the wormhole immediately. I must get to the Kandrian Empire immediately.”

His expression tightened.

”War is coming, isn’t it?”

The air grew heavy.

In the grand scheme of things, the President of the Jarkarthar Federation was a minor actor in human civilization. He ruled one of more than ten thousand planets in human civilization. He certainly had a voice, but only as part of a larger choir, if he chose to join any.

However, he was also most affected by the prospects of what was likely to be a war between civilizations and species. Human civilization had undoubtedly inflicted a massive blow to the broader homoarachnoid civilization, where it was. And they would be discovered; such a large civilization couldn’t hide. And there would likely be retaliation.

Frontier worlds like Planet Sarantel were first on the chopping block for such a retaliation, especially since it was very close to the Strehegeld Star System, relatively speaking, about ten light-years away.

The man clearly understood all of this, evident by the grave expression that emerged on his face.

She heaved a deep breath. ”President Jarkarthar, the Blood Humanist Society will not forget this world if and when the time to defend it comes. Rest assured, I’ll put in a good word at the headquarters of the Gaian Alliance and to His Majesty when I speak to them.”

His eyes lit up. ”Thank you, Your Excellency. I am eternally grateful! Truly, there is no one as benevolent and generous and gracious as you, Your Excellency!”

”You flatter me. Now then, if there’s nothing else, I would really like to depart.”

”Of course, of course!” He turned, nodding at the engineers who controlled the wormhole transit system. ”Commence the wormhole initiation immediately!”

”Commencing wormhole initiation,” the director confirmed.

”Activating negatron matter pumps.”

”Activating energy systems.”

A series of protocols began that quickly led to an intense and powerful warping of space until it formed a tunnel through the very fabric of reality, leading to another transit port on the other side.

”Thank you, until next time, President Sermoun,” she remarked, walking up to the wormhole and simply taking a step through it.

”Welcome to Gaia 792,” a man on the other side greeted her. ”Your scheduled portal to Planet Gaia Prime is already prepared.”

He gestured to a series of wormhole gates behind him through which countless esteemed individuals emerged through. Heads of state and government, powerful pathwalkers, wealthy clients, and numerous other VIPs who could access the privilege of zipping through human civilization with steps.

With another step, she arrived at her destination.

”Welcome to Gaia Prime, President Arastia Quarrier Kandria.”

”Thanks.”

The moment she arrived, she could feel his presence.

The same presence she had felt when he arrived at Planet Amadeus III.

An overwhelming godly presence.

One that he had clearly toned down so that the average person would notice, but her senses were too powerful to miss it. It was like trying to ignore the presence of the sun in the sky.

STEP

She stepped out of the busy wormhole transit station by herself, with no entourage, bodyguards, or even a flying mobile, inhaling deeply.

Gaia Prime had changed a lot in the past thirteen years.

But she wasn’t interested in it at the moment.

Her blood-red eyes focused deeply into the distance as she spotted what she was looking for.

The Kandrian Empire.

And the exact location of her elder brother.

WHOOSH

She teleported despite the anti-negatron space-time anchors that were erected across the planet. As a member of the Kandrian Royal Family, she could override it with her authority.

WHOOSH

She found herself in a laboratory.

A laboratory with only one person in it.

She turned towards the Emperor of the Kandrian Empire.

She saw him standing before a large blue crystal, his translucent eyes intently gazing into the depths of the crystal.

Her eyes shifted towards the crystal, before widening with shock.

Within it was none other than the Divine Mother that he had fought, frozen in time.

Rui turned towards her with a deep gaze.

”Ą̵̖̞̰̯͎̖́̒̅̔́̆̏͜r̷͚̫͈̼̙̗͖̰̎̆͑̉̕͝ͅa̷̫̭̼̩̬̙͋́̑͂͋͆̒s̵͓͙̬͔̎́̌̑̒̏̐̍́͗̏͝ͅt̶̢͉̫̣͇̳̻̫̙̫̻̞̥̖͑i̴̧̼͎̭̪̳͇͚̍͑̂̈́́͆̄̽̆̔̈̚͝͝a̴̛̛͈̺͉̫͍̒̆̏̂͒́̀͆̐̕.”