Chapter 23: The King and The Emperor
After the long rest; Naiki woke up late. He sees Vexis who is reading about the complex calculation of chain reaction energy using her bracelet. "What are you doing Vexis?" He says to her psionically. She looks at him and answers using the same method. "Understanding reaction energy, I wonder if we can use it against the abyss. They are the dark mythical creatures; why don't we use light energy to blast them off in one go?" Naiki shrugs as Layla awakes. "Mhh, Master." The still drowsy Layla hugged Naiki's waist. He and Vexis are surprised by her sudden movement. Vexis rubbed her hair gently with her tail until she was fully awake. Layla sees what she has done. "M-master I am sorry" Layla apologizes and lets him go. "That's fine Layla, Let's go and see the head of Cybran Corp." He says the last part to Vexis. Layla wants to stand up; she was put back to bed by Naiki. "Rest, you haven't fully recovered yet. Leave this one to me." Naiki stated to her. Naiki and Vexis put back the cushion on the rack and turn on the projector for Layla to watch some entertainment. Vexis leaves first to note the doctor while Naiki brushes her cheek before leaving.
Both walked to the teleportation room and were surprised to see Ilya and Lenora walking their way. "Hmm? Visiting Layla?" Vexis asked both of them. Ilya let out her cold breath before saying her piece to Naiki and Vexis. "Yes, after the Theatre Admiral shoo us off and bulwarked the whole frontline with his massive armadas." Lenora continues Ilya's words. "He is determined to let no one pass while ordering both of our armadas to recover. 'Get off my sectors and sit back with some food or better; go and take care of that injured red fox' he says to the both of us." Naiki laughs hearing that from Lenora. "That's Shultz if you want to know; when he started his actions, no one can stop him that easily. Alright, keep Layla company." He hugged the snow leopard and Sakhalin fox; Ilya returns his cuddle by nuzzling at him while Lenora wraps her arms over Naiki. Passerby smiles seeing the rare show of the emperor's warm heart. "Ahem!" Vexis coughed away the onlookers that started to walk faster. After that, they parted ways; Naiki and Vexis chat a little in the teleportation room. "Where should we go? At the seraphim one or the other one at Grukev's planet?" Vexis asked him. Naiki sets the place she did not know of. "Planet Gerronth-2?" Vexis puzzlingly says to him. "Zarck's home planet." Vexis nods at the answer. Both teleported to the planet.
The moment they arrived at the isolated teleportation pads on the planet; the view is very different than Seraphim. It is full of continents and islands with white oceans. Multiple land masses remain the same, uninterrupted by the inhabitants of the planet. "Impressive…" Naiki says seeing the scene. "Darling, where are they?" Vexis question without seeing major infrastructure of the sort. Naiki only pointed at the high-speed light craft that is approaching both of them. Entering the light craft, Naiki remained silent throughout the journey, making Vexis wary of the secretive planet. The light craft dives into the ocean as directed by the pilot and cruises until a large gate is seen by Vexis. She remains silent while watching the underwater view of the massive research and manufacturing center interconnected complex that Zarck has built. The light craft speeded through the gate and angled upwards inside one of the decompression hangars. It floats to the surface inside the hangar docked perfectly.
Naiki pinched the cheek of Vexis lightly who is still awestruck by the scene. She quickly follows him to be greeted by Zarck. "Naiki, Vexis; short time no see." The head of Cybran Corp greeted them. Naiki only returns a short handshake with Vexis in tow as they enter the center. "So, what brings you here this time Naiki?" Zarck gets straight to the point. "Vexis here got an idea to beat the abyss dark creatures using light-based chain reaction weapon. Think you can create one?" Naiki says it to him. Vexis watches one of the facilities assembling Cauterizers at a rhythmic speed making her remember to oversee the armadas retrofit and maintenance. "Hmm, light-based weapons…you mean electromagnetic radiation classed weapons?" The confused Zarck asked him. Naiki and Vexis are alerted by the message that sounds off from Naiki's gauntlet.
It reads 'light can be sourced from a lot of things; electromagnetic radiations, light crystals from one of your planets, the power from the sun and others. Use this knowledge well my friend. -Araki'.
Naiki shakes his head after reading the message. "When did he have access to our communicators!?…oh, it's a public one from Iresta. Wait for a fur kin minnit, he is chilling there!?" Vexis only laugh lightly at the situation. "I have a feeling using the light crystals will make the reaction much more powerful," Vexis says her piece while checking her com bracelet of the maintenance and retrofit of the whole armadas as quickly as she can see. She did not want the same incident happens again.
Zarck quickly noted it down while looking at them both. "Method of deliverance?" He asked shortly. "Space torpedoes and high yield ballistic missiles." Naiki was able to specify it without thinking too much. Vexis still looked at him for his quick thinking. "Alright, give me 5 days for its creation and mass production will start on day 6," Zarck says while handing some of the stuff he is holding to his subordinate. He sends the timely reminder to Naiki using his bracelet. "Want to stroll around and see what we have created Naiki?" Zarck gives a suggestion. "I think I'll pass this time. Maybe later." He refuses. Without saying a word to Vexis, she executed what Naiki says to her psionically. She hugged him from his back and warped the both of them back to Layla's medical chamber to see how she was doing. Zarck who already knows of her abilities returns to work without making too much fuss about it.
In a glimpse of a second, both returned to the medical chamber. Vexis nearly stepped on Ilya's tail of the warp. "Seesh Vex…" Ilya says out of worry. Naiki and Vexis see that Layla is walking from the restroom. "Master, I am fine now. The medical staff released me back to normal condition." She noted it to Naiki. "Good, about time we meet the ruler of the Altorans. Put your formal uniforms on." Naiki noted to all of them. Vexis disliked the formal attire but complies. They changed to their respective uniforms using their bracelets and walked to the teleportation room; Vexis says it is better to use it and not freak them out using her warp powers. They teleported there in quick succession. All of the Cybrans quickly kneeled after sensing the Emperor and Empress is near, even the autonomous units slightly angled like a bow at them. This was seen by the King and his daughters as they know who has arrived. A simple nod from Naiki returns the Cybrans on what they are doing. He continues his way towards the King who is watching at the entrance of the castle.
The approaching figures put the king's daughters on their edge. Svidana who had just arrived at the king's side greeted them in advance. "Your Highnesses and Regents, it is nice of you to finally come here." Svidana greets them while kneeling at them. This surprises the King and other Altorans that see the head of the Valkyries kneeling at the Cybran Emperor. Svidana stands and guided all of them to the king's throne room. With the king seated at his throne and his fellow advisors present, he made the introduction. "I am King Zela of the nation of Altora." The king signals a silence for his daughters since they are whispering to each other. A red glare iris from Naiki makes them silent down.
"I am Emperor Naiki Russ of the Imperial Cybran Empire." Naiki introduces on his behalf while his wife and regents stay silent. The king drops his guard down. "Thank you for assisting us in defending our planet. Without you, we would have perished right now." The statement alone makes Lenora have flashbacks of what happened to her father's nation. She quietly thinks that if the Cybrans have come earlier, they might be saved too. She looks down on her feet with her ear arched back. Layla who sees this, tapped her leg to get her attention. Lenora quickly gathers her composure and stands normally. "It is all thanks to your Valkyrie. If she has not come to us earlier, we would resume what we are doing." Naiki stated it while looking at Svidana. She returns a warm smile at him. "God, the seriousness of this conversation makes me want to eat their souls. Especially his advisors that are looking at us nonstop." Vexis says psionically to Naiki. "Calm down, sweetheart." Naiki answers back.
"We have nothing to give you in return for your deeds. How about marrying one of my daughters?" What Zela says makes Vexis intervene. "You do notice that the Empress is always on the right side of the Emperor?" Vexis gives a warning tone to the king. He immediately apologies. "Then, what about as consorts?" The words of the king make Vexis see Naiki for his decision. She waits for his decisions since they will be needing one for the western side. Naiki watches his daughters who stand at attention. "I'll take the Valkyrie as my regent candidate, not consort." Svidana's eyes widen at Naiki's decision. The unexpected move makes the king's advisors want the Emperor to reconsider his options since some have tried to speak to him in turn. "Silence! The Emperor has made his decision!" A quick shout from Ilya with her cold wave powers makes the others sit in silence. "Emperor Naiki, why did you choose the head Valkyrie and none of my daughters?" Zela questions him. "I need someone loyal and that has experience in some matters. Some of your daughters have to take care of your future planets after we have expanded west and given them to you." The statement alone surprises King Zela as the Emperor thinks much further for their sake.
He nods at Naiki's statement but some of her daughters disagree. "Your Highness; we are reliable and loyal; you have not seen us of ourselves yet." Princess Fenrica sounded off to Naiki. "All I see is a bunch of cowards that even did not embrace their other side of shapeshifting abilities. You may have the courage on the battlefield but you are dull on other matters, especially governing…" Vexis coldly says to them. "Time for you to accept the facts and keep improving yourself." Layla continues Vexis's words since she already knows some of them well. Ilya wanted to make fun of them since she is the coldest-hearted one. "Tell me of what supplies an Altoran fleet can carry or is carrying and I'll tell you their effective combat range, while another of you tell me ways to counter the hostiles," Ilya questions them. None answered as they did not know and mostly Svidana with her team does all of the space-faring tasks. "I thought so…" Ilya says shortly after.
"As a proposition; Emperor, why don't my governor train them some of our knowledge and ways?" Layla suggested to Naiki. Naiki simply nods. "Now, I must leave and bid you a good day recovering from the attack. We are the busy ones." Naiki turns and leaves with his regents. "We hope you can return to visit us, your highness." Zela sounded off from the distance. "Svidana, go to him now. You are now his to command." Zela states his approval to the Valkyrie. She nods and immediately runs off to Naiki. Naiki pauses to see her as she approaches him. "Not yet Svidana, you will stay with the king until we defeat that menace. Try to teach those young princesses your knowledge. It will be useful for them in the future." Hearing Naiki's words, she nods with a smile and doubles back to the king.
"I am surprised that you choose her darling and not those shapeshifters. Makes me proud that you finally choose a human being." Vexis grins as she said that. Naiki coughed away. "Master, why the Cybrans do not have mercenaries?" The sudden question from Lenora makes some of the cybrans in earshot turn to her about the sensitive topic. This makes her think twice about the question. "Simple, we don't need any since we have trillions of forces across the empire. They don't fight for money, adventure or exploration." Naiki says it before doing something unexpected. "Cybrans! Who do you fight for!?" His shout alone is echoed through the capital.
"For our Imperial Cybran Empire! There is no fear, no death! For our Cybran people! There is no easy death! For our Emperor and Empress! Our duty is eternal!" The cybran soldiers shouted in chorus followed by a war cry shortly after with the Megalith IVs making a low-toned sound and the Taskmaster VIIs sounding their horns from afar. Altoran is alerted by it; thinking it was another enemy attack approaching. Vexis shakes his head in disbelief at what he has done with Ilya and Layla sighing on the back. Lenora soaks in the zeal of the cybran people. Naiki just smiles pridefully at his people, at what they have accomplished and how stronger they have become in just a cybran decade. This boosted the morale of the cybran soldiers much more as all of them saluted happily at the emperor, empress, and regents while they are returning to Layla's flagship using the teleportation gate.