397 Risk Management

The efficiency with which Tia had mopped up the Ghimderi, or at least those few who had survived their destruction, one which was wrought by their own hands, had truly astounded Erich. So much so that he genuinely believed had Tia’s loyalty not been anchored via her borderline obsessive “love” with him. Then she could have easily eradicated all the meat bags, which she seemed to despise so much.

The destruction of the Ghimderi had overwhelming consequences on the galactic economy. On the one hand, thousands of interstellar civilizations were liberated from the exploitative debts which they owed the Ghimderi, but at the same time the central currency used by the Galaxy in most transactions collapsed over night.

It didn’t help that the physical assets which people kept intrust with the Ghimderi Banking Clans were destroyed by the detonation of their planet. Causing an immediate investigation into the cause of the Ghimderi’s collapse to take place.

When it was revealed that the Ghimderi tried to unleash a super weapon in the galaxy in response to the isolation that they felt by the other major galactic players, nobody had any remorse for the race of Goblins, or their sudden extinction.

Ironically, it was this super weapon that had been the cause of thier own demise. Or so the public was led to believe. Naturally Erich, Lunaria, and Daelia kept Tia’s involvement in this matter a secret from the galaxy. As her existence would cause quite the uprising.

This was something that needed to be avoided at all costs. As until now, the benefits that Tia provided towards the galaxy outweighed the risks that her existence posed to all biological life. And thus the official story was a doomsday device gone incredibly wrong.

In the months following this event, Erich found that a new form of peace and stability had overtaken the galaxy. Currently the five remaining galactic powers had offiically ended any open hostilities towards one another, and were working on not only rebuilding the galactic economy, but were all engaging in joint efforts to improve their military capabilities.

This of course sparked all kinds of conspiracy theories to spread across the galaxy. With many believing that this sudden unity was the result of an unknown threat which one or more of the galactic powers had detected beyond the borders of the galaxy.

But no matter how correct this assumption might be, there was simply no evidence avialable to the public that confirmed this. After all, the woman tasked with collecting this knowledge and keeping it a secret was a woman that Erich trusted with his life.

And the two of them were sitting in his office, having a discussion about these exact matters at this moment. Mirage had, for whatever reason, never transferred her consciousness back into her original body. At least not in this timeline.

Perhaps she had taken a liking to her blue hair, and red eyes, something that was no doubt spurred on by the sudden acceptance of mutants that resulted because of Erich’s ascendency to the throne, and his popularity among his people.

But for whatever reason, she continued to stride around with her “mutated” hair and eyes, proudly displaying their colors. At the moment, the woman was not behaving like one normally would in any official capacity with the leader of their nation.

Instead, she sat in the chair opposite of Erich’s desk, with her feet rested upon said desk. Her feet were completely bare and were only a few inches away from Erich’s face. All the while, she snacked on a bag of chips, like she had commonly done in the previous timeline when with Emrys.

Erich did not seem to mind these antics. Instead, it was a sign of how close they were. After all, nobody else would dare to behave so brazenly while within the Supreme Leader’s presence. Speaking of Emrys, Mirage had some intelligence about the man, who in this timeline was still the Grand Admiral of the Germanic Navy.

“So… Grand Admiral Emrys has assured me that the first manned operation to the Andromeda galaxy will be taking place within the next two years. I just want to make something clear Erich, the Naraku know about our probes. And they know where they are coming from.

We even have reason to believe that at this moment they are moving up their time tables to invade the galaxy. A manned operation to Andromeda would be suicidal, and could potentially trigger the invasion prematurely….”

Erich’s expression was grim as he cracked open a beer from within his mini fridge and handed it to Mirage. He then opened one for himself and took a sip before informing her of his thoughts on this matter.

“I am well aware of the risks that such an operation poses. But as you said, the Naraku have most certainly moved up their time tables after figuring out where our probes have come from. They know we know about them, and they know we are preparing for them.

Because of this, we have no choice but to launch a pre- emptive strike, one so damaging to the hive mind that it can buy us the decades we need to properly have our defenses in place. The men taking part in this operation know it’s a suicide mission.

They know that when they die, it will be beyond the reach of our resurrection network. And they have elected to do so regardless. The most elite WRAITHs, Banshees, and SHADES that the Empire, Dominion, and Federation have to offer will be taking part in this operation. The chances of success are high, even if the mortality rate is projected to be absolute.

In the event that these operators are taken captive by the Naraku for the purpose of a joining, their NeuroLinks are set to automatically trigger their deaths. We can’t have the hive mind knowing about the exact details of our preparations.”

Mirage nodded her head, having seemingly finished her bag of chips, which she crumpled up and nimbly through into the trash can across the room. After doing so, she chugged the rest of her beer before wiping her mouth. Once she had done all of this, she stood up and made Erich a proposal he didn’t expect to hear.

“As long as you know what kind of risks you are taking…. So…. Now that is out of the way, do you want to **?”

Erich broke out into a fit of laughter when he heard the blunt proposal that Erich had made him. It had been so many years since his past life where the two of them were a couple that he had forgotten just how bold and forward the woman could be. With this in mind, he stood up and gripped the woman’s dainty chin, while saying the words she wanted to hear the most.

“I have been waiting for you to ask me that for a very long time…”

After saying that, Erich kissed Mirage, where the two of them would once more become a couple in this new lease on life that they had.

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