"Or it could be because she possesses a class that has so connection to the Universal Tree... or perhaps she possesses a unique constitution that carries an aura similar to it," Ezra speculated. Athena nodded in confirmation.
"Whatever it may be, she is definitely a key that we want to get a hold of!! I’ll be there!!" Ezra said.
Athena, hearing this, was not surprised by Ezra’s reaction!! After all, she also believed that the elven woman was soone who could be of key use—not only because of the uniqueness she possessed (or at least what Athena had discovered so far, and who knew how much more was hidden!!), but also because of her identity. It was a piece of the puzzle that she knew Ezra also believed could be of use in their future conquest of the galaxy!!
So, she nodded her head and said, "Then I’ll wait for you, Grand Admiral, while taking care of our guest to the best of my abilities," she finished with a sly smile.
Ezra ignored her sly smile as if it wasn’t even there and nodded before adding in a serious tone, "One more thing: speed up the cleanup!! Wipe out any resistance you et from those Minotaurs quickly!! We don’t have ti to waste, and I would like you to hasten your progress!! Over and out!!"
With that, and without giving Athena a chance to speak further, he cut off the communication from his side.
Athena just pouted at the screen and turned around to look at Grace. Not far away, Grace was communicating with and commanding her subordinates at a pace and efficiency that was expected of her. As if feeling her gaze, Grace looked at Athena and nodded. "Captain!!"
Athena nodded back and looked ahead into space, where the Minotaur clan’s space station in this planet’s orbit had once been. It was now completely gone!! Not even a speck of its pieces was left out there.
Athena clicked her tongue. "Oh, there goes another source of easy, recyclable material down the drain..."
"That can’t be helped, Captain," Grace said with a cool, neutral face. "If we don’t destroy it thoroughly, it will be pulled in by the planet’s gravity. Within a couple of monts, it would fall and strike the surface, which could result in damage to the mana veins and even the planetary organ. That would be counter-productive to our agendas!!"
"Yeah, yeah," Athena said, waving her right hand in front of her face like a fan in a dismissive motion. "I know that, Grace. You don’t have to say it like, ’It would be counter-productive, blah blah...’" she added, mimicking Grace’s serious tone.
"Anyway, enough talking about this distracting stuff. You heard the Grand Admiral, right?" Athena continued, not giving Grace a chance to speak up. "Speed up the progress. Deploy the ch squadrons and fighter squadrons!! But first, bombard the ground units..."
"I was just about to give the order for that, Captain," Grace replied. "Now that you are free, you can take command; preparations are already complete!! Though, about those few ships—what should we do about them, specifically the elves? Now that even the Grand Admiral has his eyes on them, are there any specific arrangents we should maintain?" Grace asked with a thoughtful look.
"Hmm... let the others go!! Everyone other than the elves!!" Athena replied. "As for special arrangents? There’s no need for them!! Though, I would like to have a chat with those elves once again. I want to see if I can get so answers, or maybe discover sothing else!!"
"Understood. I will proceed as per your orders and, at the sa ti, place counterasures just in case they dare to do sothing they aren’t supposed to!!" As she spoke, a glint passed through Grace’s eyes. Athena saw it but didn’t comnt; it was her intention as well, she just hadn’t ntioned it. Nor did she need to. After all, as an advanced semi-energy being with the computation power of the entire ship running on a hyper-quantum system, Grace could reach that conclusion herself.
"As for the elves, I’ll have that prepared as well," Grace continued, before stopping.
Athena nodded, feeling like a laid-back Captain aboard her own ship. Whatever needed to be done could be handled by Grace; she just had to give the initial order, and Grace would follow through without a single mistake.
Really, technology made things much easier—provided you didn’t have to worry about betrayal. Fortunately, they had the Imperial Commander, with his miserable power and his mysterious thods, who could regain command over AIs at the level of Grace and beyond. This ensured they would never cause problems for the fleet or the Empire, whose foundation was almost laid by now!! After all, these were not just random AIs, but energy beings who possessed thoughts and feelings of their own, carrying a deep sense of belonging to the Void Fleet, the Empire, and its people. This ensured they would never betray the people and would only work for the positive developnt of the new Empire until the day they were destroyed.
"Good," Athena nodded.
Seeing that, Grace simply nodded back and snapped her fingers. A hologram of Vivian appeared; she seed to be in the middle of deep contemplation. Behind her stood two beautiful elves who did not pale in comparison to her. One was just as charming as Vivian herself, though even more busty.
Seeing that, Athena rolled her eyes exasperatedly. She cursed in her mind, ’Damnit, look at those two big mountains! How can soone have them that big? And don’t forget about those "mountains" behind, either! Damnit, elves really are built differently.’
She sighed, and her mood dampened a bit—though not too much.
"Oh, hello Miss Vivian!! How do you do?" Athena said, adjusting her posture and her emotions. She spoke with a cheerful tone, as if she had known Vivian since childhood and was her best friend.
anwhile, back on board the Eclipse Wraith...
"Ezra," Eclipse asked after he Ezra sat down on his command seat, "do you believe there is any truth to Athena’s discovery, or is it just that she felt sothing was wrong?"
"I believe her on this!! Knowing her, she would not have reported this to unless she was sure of it herself," Ezra said, shaking his head with a hint of confidence in his voice. "Besides, she has no reason to make things up; after all, both she and I are bound to the Emperor and wouldn’t lie about anything!!"
"I didn’t an it that way, actually!!" Eclipse replied. "But anyway, if that’s the case, don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence? Us attacking this place and finding a person who had an aura—well, at least a hint of it—similar to the Universal Tree back in the Universal Domain... whose mysteries are sothing even the Imperial Commander had no idea about!!"
"This could be a big deal, don’t you think, Ezra?"
"It’s not just a ’could be,’ Eclipse—it is a big deal if there’s a connection between that elven girl and the Universal Tree. I’d like to believe it will benefit us one way or another!! But before we contemplate and speculate further, I think we should first bring the elven continent under our control and secure them. Then, after verifying it myself, I’ll report it to the Imperial Commander."
He added with a hint of anticipation, "Thinking about it, the construction of the Empire’s capital should be progressing at an astonishing speed under the Imperial Commander’s lead back in the Soul System..." The foundation of the Empire was being laid at every mont.
Eclipse, who shared the sa anticipation and reverence, couldn’t help but agree. "All the more reason that we should speed up our conquest!! I would hate to miss such a historical event!!"
"That is my wish as well!!" With that, Ezra stood up and shouted orders to the subordinates below the command bridge.
"Set the coordinates for Planet B-02!! The Central Fleet will move there imdiately!!"
"Broadcast my command: have the Vanguard, Right Flank, and Left Flank sweep the system of any negative elents!!"
"Now, prepare the Central Fleet for a space jump!!! There is no ti to waste!!"
anwhile, a few hundred light-years away from the First Battle Fleet, another battle was taking place—at a scale far larger than anything the First Battle Fleet had encountered just now!! And it was proving to be even more brutal!!
"Damn! Where did these pieces of space garbage co from? How did these Minotaurs even amass that much support in such a short duration of ti!!" Keal cursed as he looked at the enormous fleet ahead of him!
Their numbers totaled upwards of twenty thousand. Based on their designs, five thousand of the ships belonged to the Minotaur clan, while the remaining fifteen thousand belonged to powers unknown to him!! From the variety of ship designs, power levels, and the insignias painted on them, they clearly did not belong to a single faction. They were divided among five different groups, with their numbers split almost equally into three thousand ships each!
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