am-books Chapter 89: Through the Stars (3)
Chapter 89: Through the Stars (3)
Sometimes, it was better to face the problems head-on like in this case when he advised this to Irene.
He was confident that she would be a very good Commodore-Bashar, not to mention that this would also allow her to return back to their homeworld because those who were in the commanding part of the Medjay Branch and were commissioned officers had much freedom compared to the other military branches.
Sometimes they could even choose the place where they iwshed to be deployed, thus many were turning back to their homewrolds, especially if the said homeworld was in the outskirts of the Imperial Space and needed some sort of protection.
In that regard, what was better than the Medjay Military Branch, the elites of the Eternal Empire of the Asurya?
"Returning back to the Solitas was always one of my goals because of the Arachnids. If I can climb to the position of the Bashar-General of the Medjay, I can request to be permanently stationed on any planet of my choice, together with the entire Legion of the Medjay.
Such kind of power would ensure that the Arachnids won't dare attack the Solitas as long as the Imperial Forces are congregated on the world."
Arachnids were very smart, far smarter than the people were giving the bugs credit for because they were really, really smart.
While most of the Arachnids were just drones and were no more intelligent than the average human, many of their more advanced variants were on the degree of genius intellect.
Especially their commanding variants and others; those were far more intelligent as they were responsible for decision-making in the swarm, and their danger was only second to that of the Queens, Kings, Royals, and other special variants with extremely high destructive prowess.
"That would certainly increase the security of the Solits by a great degree... at least it won't be on the list to abandon when necessary."
The real problem with the worlds that were close to the hostile territory, especially when they were bordering either the Orks, Mind Flayer Space, or the territories of the Arachnids, was many of the worlds were basically on the list to be abandoned when necessary.
Most commonly together with the population too.
Usually, if the threat was too great and the situation was zero-win, then the Imperial Army would typically withdraw from the region if it wasn't really well defendable and let it be destroyed.
Or, they would create some sort of trap like detonating the sun to create a black hole or something, so while it wasn't really that often, it happened from time to time. In such a situation, the entire Star System would be either destroyed by the Imperium to take their enemies with them or be left to the enemy to destroy.
Yet, if on such a world was someone as highly ranked as Bashar-General permanently stationed, then such a world would be by default never abandoned by the Imperial Rule, as it was directly functioning as the headquarters for the entire Legion of the Medjay, for example.
"Ts... unfortunately, aside from a few refineries and a small-time industry that is producing large amounts of military gear, the Solitas has only one specialty, which is to increase its presence of the Solitan Force Forgers that could forge Force Weapons and Armors, but that's all...
if the planet was to be attacked by the Archanid swarm, they would be just evacuated, but the planet and its inhabitants would be left to their fate."
While it may seem cruel, Arcturus could understand the reason because the Eternal Empire of the Asurya was pretty limited in terms of manpower, and thus, they couldn't waste it without a second thought.
If it had been more efficient to sacrifice the entire Star System to cause their enemy irrecoverable damages and save even more people with such a decision, then such sacrifice would have been made.
Only planets that were crucially important for the Imperial infrastructure would be defended, even in the war zones like that. And even then, many would contemplate if it was truly worth it because the technology and infrastructures could be built once again, but the people...
No.
Once people were killed, they were dead.
"Maybe you can obtain Writ of Ennoblement and become noble with the Solitas as your fief... as I checked for the last time, the entire Star Domain that is without any Domain Lord, it would be a good chance for you."
I can get all the contribution, merit, and wealth possible from this."
When he explained the situation this way, she saw some truth within his words because she had been in the military for far longer than he was alive, and she knew that he spoke the truth in several regards.
As someone who was often working on the backside of things, especially in the Black Ops, Special Operations, and other things that were better to be hidden, she was aware of the importance of the intermediaries.
Unfortunately, due to the rather xenophobic policies of the Eternal Empire of the Asurya and their conflict with the Star Mercenary Association and Bounty Hunter Guild, hiring professional intermediaries through them was nigh impossible.
Nobody who had a deep connection to the Star Mercenary Association or the Bounty Hunter Guild would take their requests as they were effectively banned by the said organizations, and even if they found someone willing, then the quality of the said Star Mercenaries or Bounty Hunters was certainly subpar.
Something that was also unacceptable.
"If you look at it that way... but not everyone has your luck and background, not to mention someone as powerful as Arsit Byrmellir vouching for your credibility. Even for the average Highborne Asuryani, if they decided to go this way, I fear it wouldn't be really possible without a proper screening."
He wanted to frown for a bit, but he knew that everything was mainly possible because his master was an extremely respected figure within the Phoenix Empire and was also their strongest Beyonder.
If he vouched for someone, then his word was absolute.
So, in this regard, his words were absolute.
When he vouched for Arcturus, it was clear that the Imperial HighCom and Administratum would take it as a sacred decree and wouldn't cause him any problems.
"I am aware of this fact, but it also has one downside... the exceptions from you are far higher than you can imagine, Bator-Commandant Varun. Even though everything may seem optimistic, everyone would have unrealistic expectations from you because of who you are, and there is nothing that you can do with it..."
Everythign in the world had two sides of coin, nothing was just black and white, everything have its own advantages and disadvantages.
In this case, it was also applied, because while his background as the disciple of the most powerful Beyonder in the entire Eternal Empire of the Asurya while giving a lot of benefits and privileges, the exceptions were even higher.
Far, far higher than one could imagine.
"Then hopefully you won't be failing to fulfill them..."
Just as they were talking, suddenly, the alarms went on, and a holographic projection of the Red Queen materialized before him. Seeing what was happening, Arcturus immediately knew that something had gone wrong and that problems were awaiting them.
Once again.
Hyperlanes were routes through space in which a spaceship could safely travel uninterrupted without colliding with a body in space, or some other phenomenon such as a black hole.
There were around fifteen major routes in the Andromeda Galaxy, with hundreds of secondary routes and thousands of minor ones. The one that Arcturus was using was one of the minor ones for whatever reason, most probably because the Red Queen chose it.
In many parts of the galaxy, Hyperlanes required periodic re-entry into Realspace to manually maneuver the ship towards the next Hyper-Point. Space Pirate raids were common in these spots, as the Space Pirates often tried their luck when the spaceships needed to exist, from the Hyperspace to the Realspace.
Or they would use the Hyperspace Disruption Field that would forcefully eject the spaceship from the Hyperlane when it passed through, and the starship would end in the Realspace only to be attacked by the Space Pirates.