Interstellar Age - #320 - 320 Meeting Again For the First Time a Second Time

Two weeks came and passed. Though Erich missed his graduation due to the severity of his circumstances, he was granted an unusual reprieve and received his rather useless diploma in the mail. And just like his father had explained to him, both in person and via online messaging, He would be shipping off to the Naval Academy again.

But this time around, he would only be spending a day there, before being sent off to the ruthless training that a member of the Germanic Star-Empire’s most elite special forces was forced to endure. Thus, Erich gathered his things and set off from his house. But before doing so, he made a brief farewell to both his mother and, shockingly, the oldest of his younger sisters. 

In the door way Erich hugged Krista and thanked her for raising him properly. Though he whispered something to her that made the mature blonde beauty quite confused. 

“Thank you mom… For everything… I promise you this time I won’t be such a disappointment…”

Before Krista could even get a word in, Erich moved over, and hugged Heidi. He had remembered signing her death sentence in his past life, but when he did it he was completely devoid of emotion. A traitor deserved nothing short of death, even if they were related to you by blood. Those were the words he had been taught from a young age, and had proven to live by. But now that he had a second chance to prevent the woman from betraying him, he made sure during these past two weeks to spend more time with her. 

“Heidi…. I promise that when the time comes… I will protect you and your family like I should have done last time…” 

Heidi had no idea what was wrong with her freak of an older brother and quickly begged for help from her parents. One of which was just as confused as she was. 

“Mom… Dad… A little help? I think Erich’s brain has sprung a leak? What the hell is he talking about?” 

It was ultimately Heinrich who pulled his son off of his daughter. Before scolding the boy for making an ass of himself. 

“For fuck’s sake, Erich, they’re not the mother and sister that you remember. I know that you have regrets from that life, but they have no fucking clue what you’re referencing!”

Erich calmed himself with a deep breath before recovering his stoic expression, where he nodded his head in agreement with his father’s words. 

“You’re right… It’s just that in my last life, this is where I began making so many mistakes… I refuse to do so again!” 

Heinrich nodded his head, before shuffling Erich towards the car that would take him to the local star port. 

“I understand that. But if you really want to fix things in this life, and save our people from certain destruction. You need to spend the next two years making sure you finish your training as quickly as possible. The only people who know about you, and your memories, are me, the Supreme Leader, and the Council of Governors.

Under no circumstances are you to tell anybody else about your powers, or the life that you lived. Even if you come across one of your past lovers, do not say a word. Do you understand me? You are now on the fast track to becoming the next supreme leader, but judging by what you told me, there are still many things you need to learn about governing an empire and its people.

So after completing your training, you must do everything you can to learn from Supreme Leader Hans Epp. Do not be so arrogant as to believe that you know everything, simply because you ruled over our people for ten years. 

I have never said this before… but you are my son Erich, and the fate of our people now rests in your hands! So do not fail us a second time!” 

Erich had to admit that the last remark his father made was a sobering reminder of all the failures he had made in his past life, and the reasons why he had made them, naivety, arrogance, and sometimes outright foolishness. Many of these things he had learned from, and eventually overcame.

But he was still not the man he could be, and because of that, he needed to be properly mentored into leadership. Unlike Emrys, who allowed him to run wild and make his own mistakes in his past life. In this life, Hans Epp would take his mentorship seriously, and refine the man that Erich had become after thirty years of life as a soldier and a warlord. 

With this in mind, Erich smiled for perhaps the first time in as long as he could remember. And nodded his head in agreement with his father’s words once more while expressing his thoughts. 

“I understand what is at stake, and this time I swear that no matter what, I will not fail. I am thankful for this second chance to make up for my failures. GoodBye father, the next time we see each other I hope to be a better man…” 

After saying this, Erich stepped into the car, which flew off and took the man to the star port. Where he boarded the same shuttle that he had taken to Germania in his past life and sat in the same seat. Sure enough, Yumi arrived just on time. The beautiful Oni Matriarch was a glorious as Erich remembered. And as much as the memories that they shared together flashed in his mind, he remained completely stoic as she asked him the question she had done in his previous life. 

“I’m sorry, but is this seat taken?” 

Erich calmly shook his head, as he responded to Yumi’s question with an equally cool demeanor. 

“Not at all…” 

Erich then went back to paying attention to his NeuroLink. He did not even begin speaking to Yumi until she broached the subject herself. If Erich had forced a conversation out of Yumi with his sullen manner in his past life, he had done so in this life with his thousand mile stare. The woman had a few shots of alcohol from the service of the flight attendants before breaking the ice. 

“You know I have to ask…. Where were you deployed? I mean, I don’t mean to pry… But you look like you have seen some serious shit…” 

Erich couldn’t help himself from chuckling at this remark. He had served in multiple armed conflicts in his past life, some of which were clandestine. None of which had occurred yet in this life. Thus he simply shook his head, and responded to Yumi’s remark with a calm, yet haunted tone in his voice. 

“Is it that obvious?” 

Yumi wore a playful smirk on her pretty face, as she dug deeper into Erich’s background since he was being so coy with the information. 

“Oh, yeah… I know a veteran when I see one, and I don’t mean a support role… If I had to guess, you’re a true ground pounder… Though you are a little short to be a star-marine… Are you perhaps a Storm Commando? I hear they sometimes recruit from other branches for that rare breed of natural born killer. I’m right, aren’t I?” 

Erich chuckled even further and shook his head when he finally looked at the woman. She was still the same woman he had known in his previous life. Yet he would not outright reveal his past, as it could not be confirmed in this life. Again, because it had yet to happen. Thus, he responded to the Oni beauty with another cryptic remark. 

“Close… Very close… How does an Oni like you know so much about our military and its organization, anyway? This isn’t exactly common knowledge outside the Empire…” 

When Erich said close, Yumi immediately knew who Erich was, and what his actual role was in the Germanic Military… His haunted look suddenly made sense as she looked away, and apologized to the man, knowing that her game was a dangerous one. 

“I’m sorry… I didn’t know that you were one of those… I mean, I have never actually met one of your kind before. Please forgive me. I have already said too much… As for why I know so much about your empire and its military structure, I’m actually a diplomat on behalf of the Great Oni Empire.” 

Erich feigned surprise when he heard these words and asked further about Yumi’s identity. It was obvious by her blushing that she was already captivated by him. He knew from his past life that this woman had a fetish for the men of his species. And Erich had just accidentally revealed he was among the most capable killers that his civilization could produce.

Yumi’s reaction was a far cry from his previous life, when she had pity sex with him because he was some dumb young coffin jockey being sent to his eventual death without ever getting laid. Erich could already tell that she was trying to figure out how to convince a member of the legendary WRAITHs to break the law and spend a night with her. Thus, he used this time to entice her further. 

“So tell me… What exactly is the Matriarch of the Kondo Dynasty doing on board a commercial transport within the Germanic Star-Empire? Surely you have your own starship for your diplomatic purposes.”

Yumi was shocked that Erich seemed to know about her identity, for only a second before she remembered that WRAITHs worked for Germanic Military Intelligence and thus, of course, would know the real identity of the Great Oni Empire’s hidden ruler. Thus, she bit her lip with a seductive look on her pretty face as she made a comment about Erich’s identity. 

“Gods be damned… You are the real deal, aren’t you? Your average grunt would never have been able to figure out my identity even if they were given a million years… Alright, I’ll tell you what I’m doing on this commercial Starliner, but you have to give me some information in return.” 

Erich smiled when he heard this. It was not the perverted smile Yumi had on her pretty face, but rather a playful one, as if he were entertained by the woman’s antics. Thus, he responded to her with an equally playful tone. 

“Alright… As long as you are not asking me to divulge any classified information to you, I’ll tell you anything you want to know. So tell me, what are you doing here, right now?” 

This was actually a question Erich hadn’t thought about in his past life, even after learning Yumi’s true identity. But it was only now, sitting next to her in this exact instance in time for the second time, that he suddenly realized this was a valid question. 

Upon hearing his answer, Yumi was even more delighted as she leaned in and whispered the truth to Erich. One that shocked Erich to the core of his being. 

“The truth is… I made a little bet with my Nephew, the Great Oni Emperor… I bet that little brat that my womanly charms are so great, that I could seduce even an average Germanic Citizen… After all, unlike your politicians, you lot seem to actually believe and practice the propaganda that you preach… especially regarding interspecies relations.

So… I figured the only way I would be able to meet an average citizen was to take a commercial starliner from the border to Germania. You may not exactly be average, but I bet even a mutant like yourself has gobbled up the propaganda that your politicians preach. Am I right? And yet, I see the way you are looking at me… So… How about after we land on Germania you come back to my hotel room and we have a little fun?”

Erich honestly didn’t know what to say… At first he thought that Yumi had pity sex with him in his past life… But it now turned out that this entire time he had been little more than a bet between the woman and her nephew who despised her fetish.

Still, that didn’t change their relationship, and what it evolved into. Although it did make Erich more eager to prove himself to Yumi. Thus, he made a snarky remark to the woman in an attempt to see just how much she had lied to him in his past life. 

“Oh? Are you trying to get me to cheat on my wife?”

Despite these words, Yumi did not let up as she grabbed hold of Erich’s forearm and further tried to seduce him into her bed. 

“Oh, come on, don’t be like that! It will be a onetime thing! Your wife doesn’t need to know about our time together. After all, aliens don’t count, right? Please… if I lose this bet… I… Never mind…” 

Erich saw the way was reacting, and was happy to see that she didn’t call him out on his bluff. Apparently, she genuinely did not realize that mutants weren’t allowed to marry, or even have sex for that matter. Thus, he chuckled and admitted to messing with her. 

“I’m fucking with you, you know that, right? Mutants aren’t allowed to marry, or have sex for that matter. The Empire can’t risk the potential of our inferior seed spoiling the gene pool. So if we do this, I would be breaking more laws than you realize, all of which end with me being signed to a penal battalion and spending the rest of my natural lifespan in service to the Empire…” 

Yumi looked at Erich with genuine shock in her eyes. Erich knew the woman well enough to know when she was putting on a facade, and the tone in her voice was one of genuine dismay, as she spoke her disbelief aloud. 

“No way… You mean they sent you out there… And you never even? And if you did, they would…. Wow… I don’t know what to say…”

Erich then enlightened Yumi further on his “predicament’ with a haughty tone in his voice. 

“Oh, yeah, that penal battalion thing that only applies to guys like me, who are worth more alive than dead. Your average grunt, or pog, gets wiped… So… You could say my punishment is much more severe…”

The word “wiped” was Germanic slang for those who received a death sentence and were not only executed but permanently wiped from the servers that allowed Germanic Citizens to be revived after a death. And Yumi naturally knew this, having spent many decades in the Germanic Star-Empire as an ambassador. Thus, she had a downcast expression on her pretty face as she thought about what would happen to Erich if they were to sleep together. 

In the past, she had been able to protect what few Germanic lovers she had taken for a time. But in the end, things always end badly to them, and she only now realized what their fates were after their relationship came to an end. The graceful Oni beauty looked like she was about to cry, when Erich grabbed hold of her dainty chin and forced her to look into his eyes and his daring smile. Where he then whispered to Yumi, the words hat immediately cheered her up. 

“Now with that being said… You don’t get to be in my position without taking a few risks… So… If you really want to, I don’t mind spending the night with you… That is, if you’re willing to show me the ropes?”

This comment caused Yumi to break out in a fit of laughter, as she looked at Erich with a genuinely curious gaze before speaking her thoughts aloud. 

“You have got to be the most interesting man I have ever met from your species… What did you say your name was again?” 

Erich simply wore a charming smile as he introduced himself to Yumi for this first time in this second chance at this life of his. 

“Erich…. Erich Jaeger…”