Interstellar Age - #324 - 324 Becoming a War Hero for the Second Time

Over the following weeks, Erich met with the Supreme Leader of the Germanic Star-Empire at the Empire’s most famed building, simply named the Citadel. It was the headquarters of the National Socialist Germanic Workers Party, and was designed to withstand anything short of total planetary destruction. 

Legions of soldiers guarded the citadel, and only those with official clearance could enter. Officially a part of the Black Guard, which was the name given to those soldiers who protected the Supreme Leader, Erich was able to walk in and out of even the most secure sectors of the citadel without incident. 

While his official job was to protect the Supreme Leader, Erich was in all reality the designated successor of the man. And because of this, he spent more time as a personal aid, then as an actual security officer. 

With Tia’s integration to the Empire’s command structure, production was at an all-time high, while military and Law Enforcement were being supplemented with AUXILIA Class Support Droids. And though the Germanic Military had not gone the route of full-automation like Erich’s Silber Enclave in his past life. It did increase its overall efficiency why a whopping 500% in only a few months. 

Eventually the day came, where the Supreme Leader sat Erich down, and began to discuss with him plans for the future. Plans that pertained to Erich in particular. Thus, the two men sat down in the Supreme Leader’s office and shared a cup of tea while discussing these important matters. 

“As you know Erich… Our society is not exactly fond of those we deem to be “mutants” like yourself. And we have never had a mutant Supreme Leader before. Because of this, I wanted to pass some documents over to you, to see if they are acceptable to release to the public. 

“Hans then transferred a file to Erich’s NeuroLink.It was a personnel file and contained a falsified military career. One that showed Erich’s service in the Germanic Special Forces in several small scale theaters of combat. Theatres where he supposedly earned himself an extended list of awards and decorations related to his service. 

Erich had since been promoted to the Rank of captain, but rather than his previous naval ranking, his ranking in this world was associated with the Star Marine Corps. Which had a ranking structure similar to the Germanic Army.

Which meant he was a lower-ranking overall when compared to his past life. Still, he was only eighteen years old at the moment, and this falsified service record justified that by claiming Erich was a part of Project Epsilon, which was the code name for a child soldier project designed to create W-7s by the age of sixteen. 

Erich read the details carefully and saw that he had essentially been awarded with every major decoration for valor, on top of several other decorations related to personal injury and qualifications. Many of these he had been awarded in his past life during his time as both a starfighter pilot, and during his time as a WRAITH. 

Thus he immediately approved of the list. Before asking questions about how well this lie could be maintained. 

“These are no small achievements. I would know I was awarded most of these in my past life… Are you seriously telling me that nobody will question them once you release the list to the public?” 

Hans simply smirked as he poured himself and Erich some more tea before answering the question in a confident tone. 

“Officially, as a member of Project Epsilon, you were deployed to high-risk operations outside of the Empire’s borders and resurrection network. The Epsilon units were wiped out on a world called Antares Prime during a deep space reconnaissance mission within Svartalfheim Space…

I won’t get into specifics, but our men were spotted by Svartalfheim Special Forces and terminated. The operation was a failure, as a result of political bickering that prevented us from sending aid to the units in question when they needed it most. There were no survivors.

However… Officially, there was a sole survivor, and that was you. For your bravery in the face of certain defeat, and your heroic last stand, which saw you as the sole survivor of the Epsilon units, we have decided to award you with the Order of the Black Sun, and have posthumously handed out various awards for Valor to the deceased members.

Don’t worry about the support who found the Epsilon Units after they had been wiped out. They have sense been deployed to further theatres of combat where they were also destroyed. Because of this, there is nobody left to refute the official story. 

Naturally, the nature of these operations is classified, as is Project Epsilon, so we will be redacting a lot of information when we release it to the public. But the important thing is to make your service record public, so that the general population will come to see you as a war hero. 

I wish we had the time to actually send you overseas to create a legitimate service record worthy of these honors. But since you were already awarded most if not all of these in your past life, I would hardly consider it stolen valor. 

Once you approve of this list, we will release it to the public, and hold a ceremony to honor you as the sole survivor of Antares Prime… It is better for the public to see your face as you are awarded the Order of the Black Sun, rather than simply have your picture attached to the file.”

Erich nodded his head and agreed with this sentiment. For propaganda purposes, what Hans was saying made sense. And thus, he gave a cursory review of the falsified service record, before giving his approval of it. Once he had done this, his service record was partially declassified and released to the public.

As for the ceremony, he would have to wait a few days for a proper dress uniform to be made for him, and the various awards he had earned in his past life, and just been granted again in this life to be manufactured from scratch. 

—

Like most citizens of the Empire, Erika was alerted to the awards ceremony. Whenever a man was awarded an Order of the Black Sun, it was a nationwide event worth celebrating, as it meant a war hero was being born for the public to admire. 

Erich wasn’t just awarded any order of the Black Sun, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Black Sun, which included a breast star, a sash, and a collar order. He had been awarded these things in his past life for saving the Empire from the Hive Fleet Terminus.

Hans had to spin a particularly heroic tale on Antares in order to grant Erich such an award in this life, as it was not exactly something that was commonly awarded to those other than General Officers who had achieved a major victory in a theater of war. 

In this life, Erich’s scandalous one-night stand with Yumi was not released to the public, as he had not been foolish enough to publically broadcast his dalliance with the Oni Beauty on the grid. And because of this Erika did not have a negative first impression of the man. Though she still hated mutants, due to her own inferiority complex. She was easily able to get past such a thing, when it was a mutant being given the highest award for valor and exemplary service that man could receive in the Empire. 

Erich stood in front of the Supreme Leader, the Deputy Leader, and the Council of Governors. All of which had gathered to honor the man, they were also all aware of Erich’s secret identity as both a time traveller and as the successor to the Germanic Throne. Thus, this gathering was more significant than the public realized, because it meant that the entirety of the Germanic Government was onboard with this peaceful transition of power that would be occurring in the coming decades. 

Because he was a special forces operative, Erich was dressed in a black and silver uniform. Eerily reminiscent to those that were worn by the SS during the early days of the NSDAP in Earth’s distant past. 

But rather than the SS bolts on his collar, there was instead an Odal Rune, along with the rank that corresponded to a Special Forces captain, which was a replica of the SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer rank of the Waffen-SS from the Second World War of Earth’s more turbulent past. 

Erich wore a silver aiguillette and matching belt. Along with a red armband that displayed the banner of the Black Sun, that the Germanic Star-Empire flew proudly as its national flag. A ribbon board of multiple layers was pinned above Erich’s top left breast pocket, which contained the various honors he had earned in his past life, and had been gifted in this new one. 

Finally, there was a Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves, swords, and diamonds that wrapped gracefully around his neck. Displaying the large and militant symbol from his collar in place of a tie. 

Erich’s appearance was striking to say the least, as despite his silver hair and eyes, he was considered exceptionally attractive, even among the Germanic populace who genetically engineered their population to be superhuman, including in appearance. 

And perhaps because of this, in addition to him being awarded the Nation’s highest military honor, Erika’s face grew red as she watched the propaganda video of Erich being honored for his “past service”. She even went so far as to go on social media and say something that a girl in her position really shouldn’t have. 

“I just found my future husband!” 

This one social media post would set the Germanic interstellar network ablaze. Specifically, because Erika was an up-and-coming idol, and she was already fawning over a man, which was the last thing she should be doing.

After all, in the current state of the Germanic Star-Empire, spouses were assigned by the government, rather than chosen by the people. To say that she “found her future husband” meant that she believed she had the power to choose who she would one day marry, which was a scandalous statement in its own right. 

And thus, rather than Erich being hated for having a young up-and-coming idol fawn over him, it was actually Erika who received all the hate from her fans.