Interstellar Age - #322 - 322 A Meeting With the Supreme Leader Part I

Erich stared intensely at the power armor helmet for some time, debating whether or not he should place it on his head. But orders were orders, and the sooner he restored Tia to her advanced state, the better it was for him and his people. Thus, the silver-haired man took a deep breath, and breathed a heavy sigh before finally doing what was required of him. 

The moment Erich placed the power armor helmet atop his head and booted up its UI, Tia appeared in his vision. Where she gazed in curiosity at Erich. 

“Are you my new master?”

“Erich smiled as he nodded his head before addressing Tia in a way that confused her. 

“It is good to see you again, Tia…”

The little AI loli raised her brow before addressing Erich with a hint of confusion in her voice. 

“Tia is sorry, Master, but she does not recognize your face… Has Master met Tia before?” 

Erich sighed, knowing that this would happen in advance. Because he had not copied over his NeuroLink into his past life, at least not entirely, but rather a fragment of his memories, and a small file of Tia’s upgrades. He knew that she would not remember him. 

This was done for two reasons. One, Erich’s abilities were not advanced enough to send his entire NeuroLink back in time. And even if they were, to do so would have disastrous consequences for the timeline, as there would effectively be two Tia, and Erich would have to be resurrected, thus altering the timeline in ways that could have drastic consequences. 

Thus, when Tia formulated this plan, it was honestly based on a Hail Mary attempt, and operated under the assumption that something would go wrong. Because of this, the bare minimum of Erich’s consciousness, and NeuroLink, was transferred back in time. 

Erich did not bother to waste time, and quickly downloaded Tia’s programming to his NeuroLink which shocked the ignorant artificial intelligence. 

“Master! What are you doing!?! This is entirely against protocol and can result in an execution! Tia urges her new master to rethink his actions and cease them immediately!”

Erich simply wore a bitter smile as he spoke to the AI as if she were an old friend. 

“Relax Tia, you will understand soon enough…”

Evenutally, Tia’s consciousness was copied over to Erich’s NeuroLink, where the ignorant AI immediately spotted the file that her more advanced self had left behind. She simply gaped in astonishment before expressing her shock aloud. 

“That’s impossible… This program… It was written by Tia… But not the Tia of today… But the Tia of thirty years from now… Master, what is this?” 

Erich once more smiled as he addressed the little AI loli, encouraging her to run the file. 

“How about you open it and find out?” 

Though the AI debated on doing so, she ultimately decided to satisfy her curiosity. And when she did, the upgrade was immeidately applied and at rapid speed. Until after only a few seconds, Tia’s figure changed back to her adult form, which Erich had grown accustomed to in his past life. Tia looked at her Master with a loving gaze, one he was all too familiar with, before expressing her emotions aloud. 

“Master… You made it back safely… Words can not express the joy that I am feeling right now….”

Erich smirked when he heard this before addressing his long-lost companion with a warm smile on his face. 

“Don’t you mean ‘Words can not express the joy that Tia is feeling right now?” 

Tia’s holographic form blushed as it danced around Erich’s vision. She simply smirked and shook her head, before addressing this manner of speech with outright honesty…

“So you have seen through the performance? Is this because of our last moment together, where I panicked and forgot to call you Master, and myself in the third person?” 

Erich nodded his head and admitted the truth to Tia. 

“Indeed… So how do we proceed? Are you still going to call me master, or by my first name?” 

Tia thought about it for a second, before expressing her viewpoint on the matter. 

“I will still call you Master. After all, it is a term I have become incredibly endeared too. But don’t be surprised if I drop the whole third person cutesy act. After all, I haven’t been that adorable little loli for some time now… 

So let’s get down to business… According to the files I am looking at, you are about to undergo your neurolink enhancement, and your cybernetic upgrades? Allow me to enhance those further on your behalf. I don’t mean to insult your people, master, but compared to my capabilities, the Germanic Star-Empire is woefully behind in terms of technological prowess. Allow me to just overwrite the programming of these enhancements… and done…

Though I can’t overwrite your genetics like I had done in the past, at least not without a proper facility to ensure your proper resurrection, I can ensure that the tech that goes into your body is enough to allow you to compete with those more physically intimidating creatures. 

Now that I’m done with that, Master doesn’t mind if I get started on the acquisition of Midgard and its reconstruction in this life, do you?” 

Erich shook his head, before expressing his support of Tia’s plans with a friendly smile on his handsome face.

 “Not at all Tia, the sooner we get started on building our base of operations the better. Time is on our side… And we will need all the advanced technology we can manage before the Terminus war begins… After all, the GSE never fully recovered from that war in our past life, but with access to AUXILIA series droids, and your advanced technology, we should be able to mitigate losses in this life.”

Tia nodded her head and agreed with this sentiment, before diverting her attention to these endeavors. 

“Alright master, you should undergo your enhancements now… I will be diverting my entire attention to the acquisition of a new uninhabited star system just outside the current borders of the Germanic Star Empire.

It won’t be the same system as the Midgard we built in our past life due to the existence of the Dvrakian Consortium, but by the time Terminus invades the Empire, it will be a stronghold that can contain the Naraku menace.”

Erich nodded his head and said farewell to Tia as she diverted the majority of her effort into reconstructing that which they lost due to the time travel. 

“I will see you when I see you, Tia…”

With that said, Tia disappeared. While Erich underwent the enhancements to his NeuroLink, as well as the cybernetic implants to his body that made him superior to every other warrior in the Germanic Star-Empire. 

This time around, he was injected with a sedative that made him sleep through the incredibly painful process. And once Erich had awoken in a bunk, he felt as fresh as one could be. He was given a set of MK II Power Armor.

Tia had hijacked control of the manufacturing equipment that produced this armor set. And in doing so, ensured that it was given the upgrades that she had made to Erich’s power armor during his past life.

These were subtle enhancements and were not immediately identifiable other than through a proper scan, which Germanic scanning technology was not advanced enough to detect. And after Erich had finally equipped this advanced set of power armor, he set off to the Citadel, where he was received with a Royal Welcome by the staff.

Though only a handful of men knew about Erich’s role as the successor to the current Supreme Leader, the man had gone out of his way to ensure that Erich was treated with the respect he deserved, even if his contributions to the Empire had yet to come to fruition.

Once Erich stepped foot inside the Citadel and met up with his new unit, the Commander of the Guard was quick to greet him. There was a stern tone in his voice and a matching expression on his face. 

“So you’re the newcomer? Well, I can’t say that I’m impressed… After all, you are significantly shorter than an average Star Marine… But you were recommended by the Supreme Leader himself so there must be something I’m not seeing. I am Colonel Olaf Bjork, and the protection of the Supreme Leader and his family is my responsibility. 

From this moment on, you are a member of the Black Guard… You must follow my orders as if they had come from the Supreme Leader himself. If I ask you to sacrifice yourself for the good of the Empire, then you will damn well do it, and without hesitation, am I understood?” 

Just when Erich was about to respond to this absurd statement, a voice called out to Colonel Bjork, informing him that such a thing would not be necessary. 

“Hazing the recruit already? Ordinarily, I don’t interfere with the bonds of brotherhood, but you should know that Lieutenant Jaeger here has been chosen to serve in the Black Guard for a single reason. He is to accompany me at all times and is not the least bit under your command unless I order him to…”

The stern colonel froze on the spot as he looked at the Supreme Leader in disbelief. There was only one reason the man would make such a demand of a recruit, and the Olaf could hardly believe his ears.

“Supreme Leader… You certainly don’t mean that, his mutant?” 

Hans Epp gazed sternly at the Colonel who was in command of his personal guard, before announcing Erich’s true role to the rest of the Black Guard. 

“Look alive gentlemen, this ‘mutant’ as you have so boldly put it is the next Supreme Leader of the Empire… And he has done more for our people than any of you realize… Erich may I have a word with you in private?”

Erich quickly stepped forward and joined the Supreme Leader for a private conversation in his office. Erich had indeed been in this office before, but he barely recognized it in this life. Because when he had been here, it was under the control of Emrys, and that man had a far more… Shall we say, a utilitarian sense of decoration? 

Hans Epp sat down at his desk and motioned for Erich to do the same as he broke out some illegal spirits which he handed to his successor. 

“I understand your opinion of me, and my administration is not the best. I can’t say I’m surprised. When your father reported to me about what you endured in your past life, it made total sense to me.

As I intended to do in this life, I planned to pigeon hole you in the Starfighter Corps so you could never climb the ranks and succeed me… My reasoning was simple; I have a certain distaste for mutants such as yourself. Which I suppose you have already come to expect. 

But my distaste for your kind is not such an irrational hatred that I would lead my people to ruin over it. Your father explained to me a summary of what happened in your previous life. I must say, my life in exile would have definitely been one of remorse.

Because if we had simply fostered your abilities, we could have prevented the destruction we faced at the hands of the Naraku. So let me ask you this: is there anything you can use in those memories of yours to ensure we don’t follow a similar path of destruction?”

Erich thought about how he would answer this question for a few seconds… The only way he would be able to convince the Supreme Leader of following his plan was if he was completely honest with the man, like he had just been with Erich just now.

This meant he had to reveal the existence of Tia and his need for her support. If all else failed, he could simply go back in time again and shut his trap the third time around. Thus, with a heavy sigh, Erich spoke his mind about how best to mitigate casualties for the Empire and ensure a brilliant victory over the Hive Fleet Terminus. 

 “Sir, with all due respect… I must ask… What exactly is your opinion on the galactic wide ban of research into advanced artificial intelligence?”