Interstellar Age

Lunaria stared at Erich with a deep sense of curiosity. It had been some time since she met with a member of the Germanic Military. Not only was Erich's age unusual for his position, but his demeanor was respectful to her, too respectful.

He had gone out of his way to call her his empress and had bowed before her not out of obligation but genuine respect. There was not a hint in his unusual silver eyes, a condition that undoubtedly meant that this man had suffered great difficulty on his path to power.

This caused a look of admiration to appear in Lunaria's eyes as she spoke to Erich, and not his superior.

"Field Marshal Jaeger... How interesting... Prove yourself worthy to me and I may remember the name... Now tell me Field Marshal, what exactly is going on with this little alliance of yours? I have known for some time now that the Germanic Star-Empire was on favorable terms with the Great Oni Empire, but not to this extent...

Not to mention the inclusion of the Dvrakian Consortium in this little alliance... You wouldn't be thinking about being rebellious towards me now would you?"

Erich stood fast in his devotion to Lunaria. Though she did not know that they had been lovers in the previous timeline, he was determined to make it a thing in this one. And thus he put on a perfect display of loyalty to the woman as he assured her this alliance was for their own protection.

"By now, your majesty should be aware that Terminus is but a few years away from our borders... We are doing everything in our power to increase our military strength in an attempt to defeat the bugs and annihilate the hive fleet. The aid from our allies in the Great Oni Empire is most welcome, and as for the Dvrakian Consortium, we plan to hold the first line of defense at the edge of their borders."

Lunaria rested one leg over the other as she leaned forward and gazed upon Erich's expression. She was searching every crease in his face for a hint of lies, and when she determined that he was telling her the truth, she was quick to accept this information as fact.

"Very well, it pains me to abandon you all to fight this battle on your own... But as you know our rivals in the Svartalfheim Federation are currently causing trouble on our borders. We lost an entire fleet to the Naraku, but luckily for you, we have weakened the Hive Fleet. So if there is at all a chance of your survival, we have dealt a blow capable of delivering it to you all.

If you can hold out long enough... I may be able to spare a relief force, if not, then I pray to the ancient gods of my people that your souls make it to the afterlife... That is all I wanted to know... And Erich was it? I will be watching your career closely from now on, so do not disappoint me. Do you understand?"

Erich nodded his head and rose to a saluting position, the proper position fo a salute that a member of the Germanic Military would give to a superior from the Alfheim Dominion.

"Yes... Your Majesty!"

With that said, Lunaria hung up on Erich, leaving the man to deal with the Supreme Leader of the Germanic Star-Empire who was quick to comment on Erich's uncanny ability to lie.

"I have never seen the Alfheim Empress fail to detect a lie before. She is beyond ancient and has long since memorized the expressions our species makes while lying. Yet you told her we did not have access to terraforming technology. How is this possible?"

Erich wore a smug smile on his face as he patted his superior's shoulder, while letting him in on a secret that nobody could confirm in his past life, but many had come to suspect.

"I'll let you in a little secret. In my past life, I was Lunaria's lover... I know that woman better than I know myself. We spent decades together, and with that said I obviously know how to lie to her..."

Supreme Leader Hans Epp looked at Erich, trying desperately to tell if the man was lying to him or not. He could not believe such an absurd comment, and was quick to call Erich out on what the man perceived to be bullshit.

"You and the Alfheim Empress? Lovers? Boy, the heat death of the universe would sooner occur than that!"

Erich scoffed and shook his head, shrugging off the Supreme Leader's disbelief, but leaving behind a solemn vow before disappearing from the man's sight.

"Believe me... Don't believe me, I really don't care. But I spoke the honest truth with you just now, and if I am to be honest further, I intend to reclaim her as my woman in this life as well... The alliance we were about to build would have forever changed the balance of power in the galaxy... And if not for some unfortunate circumstances, like the invasion of the Extragalactic Naraku fleets, then we could have accomplished great things together."

The Supreme Leader was left in a state of complete and utter disbelief. He honestly had no idea with Erich was fucking with him. After all, the Alfheim Empress had maintained her purity for longer than recorded history. But she gave it away to someone like Erich... It couldn't be that she knew about his abilities, and the plot of the Germanic Star-Empire all along, right? No.... That was unthinkable... Nobody could have possibly alerted the ancient empress to their schemes...

As for Erich, he was indeed determined to win back Lunaria, but he would not be compelled to take her as his one and only life in this timeline like he had tried to do in his past, there were many women who he needed to make things up to, and Lunaria was just one of them. Thus, Erich's plan from this day forward was to begin approaching Mirage and trying to reconnect with her in a far less toxic way than he had done in the previous timeline.