Once I left the party (and made it clear to my kids that they would not get to have any tomorrow as punishment for going somewhere without my permission), I quickly set about preparing for the final confrontation with the Drengin. With the Korx now displaced from their market dominance, the Yor, Dread Lords, and by extension the Snathi now under my control/protection, and the Korath flat out not existing as separate power due to Melissa, all that remained was to bring down those tyrants and recover the last artifact in this universe, which I presumed was in their possession, going off of what had happened in this universe and the previous one. The presence of an artifact would have also explained the Dread Lords having access to a Terror Star, seeing how the only source of such devices in canon was the Arnor. If the Drengin had pulled the designs for that machine out of the artifact, then the need to defeat them was even greater - if I didn't stop them now, they might get something that could actually let them face me and win.
First off, I began churning out several extra fleets to use for destroying the last of the Drengin's forces. Even after the absolutely epic smack-down she'd inflicted on them over the course of the last few months (as in, completely obliterated five different fleets with zero casualties and taken a hundred worlds from them simultaneously to destroying those fleets), they still had three fleets left to fight with, as well as a fourth one nearing completion. Even in the face of certain defeat, they refused to give up. Were they not a race so morally reprehensible that I got sick just thinking about them, that would be admirable, and as evil as they were, I still couldn't help but respect them.
My dislike of them aside, I was willing to be civil to them if they surrendered. While the empire as a whole refused to seek peace, some of their colonies saw reason (or at least the writing on the wall), and gave up without a fight. Part of me felt that they were only doing this to escape Melissa' fury, but I couldn't really blame them for that - hell hath no fury like a women scorned, especially if they had omnipotence and could exercise even a fraction of the power they possessed. If she scared them into my arms, so be it. The fact that she scared them enough to be willing to give up slavery forever to avoid her wrath was a nice bonus.
While I prepared my forces to smash the Drengin's teeth in and negotiated with the few of them willing to swallow their pride, I also decided to examine one last bit of new technology I'd acquired from this universe: the star gates. While nothing different from my teleporters, and they were , in fact, inferior to my progenitor tech base in many regards, the star gates has one clear advantage over my teleporters: they could transport star ships. Furthermore, by combining them with the warp nexus technology I had acquired from the Beyond Earth universe, which did roughly the same thing, albeit with higher energy consumption, I was able to create a superior interstellar gateway that could allow you to travel between any two points of the nexus instantly, at exceedingly high energy efficiency. Additionally, said increased energy efficiency allowed me to make the gate able to fit in fleets that would be unreasonable for either of the base gates to transport. All things that would be important for what I had planned.
With that finished, all of my preparations for the final fight were done. Yet though I knew that acting soon would be the best course of action, I decided to stay my hand for one more day. Melissa had claimed the Drengin as hers to defeat, and as she was still taking the day to rest after her party, I felt it best to wait, lest I incur her unstoppable fury.
So, with my final conquest on hold, I decided to take one last look into the memories stored aboard my commander.
XXXXXXXXXXX
As I peered through the memories dwelling within my Commander, my mind drifted back to what I had seen most recently in them - the battle against the skull crawler, where Melissa, Zeta, and Tau had stood united, with the most venom exchanged between the trio being a set of friendly verbal jabs. From what I had seen, it seemed the trio had been close, so what had caused them to become so vitriolic toward each other? What had turned such good friends into fierce foes?
...Wait, why were all the videos rearranging themselves?!
Before I could get an answer, the first video began to play.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Tau and Zeta stared at Celm, as did their companions. Their superior had called a meeting to introduce their newest member, who would bear the title of Operative Omega. Now at that remained was to actually meet their new compatriot.
"So," Asked Tau, " where is our new coworker?"
"...Roght here," answered a soft l, diminutive voice from behind Celm. Then, cautiously, a pale skinned girl stepped out from behind their superior, wearing clothing that made her skin look as if it had been as dark as night. She seemed nervous, yet also curious.
"I'm...Operative Omega."
The group stared at her for some time, before, at last, Zeta broke the silence.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Operative Zeta. I look forward to working with you."
Then, like a torrent escaping a flood gate, more greatings followed, and slowly, Omega began to shed her fear and, after a while, offered a faint smile.
XXXXXXX
I wanted to see more, but then the feed cut out, and soon after, a new video took its place.
XXXXX
Deep within a crystalline cavern, the Operatives scoured the tunnels, each examining the crystals with eagle eyes.
"So, we need to find a blue white scarab beetle in a cavern full of blue and white crystals," remarked Zeta. "Could this be anymore difficult?"
"Don't jinx it, Zeta," remarked Tau.
Nearby, Omega had taken out a fruit and placed in on the ground, then, with a flick of her fingers, caused a breeze to blow through the cave, starting from the location of the fruit.
"Omega, what are you doing?" Asked Zeta.
"Baiting out our target."
"With a rotten fruit? That's not going to...work."
As the other female ROB had been saying her counter, a blue white beetle had promptly flown up to the fruit and started digging in.
"...I stand corrected."
XXXXXXX
Once again, the feed switched to a new video.
XXXXXXXX
"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap," moaned Zeta as she began desperately searching through a set of crystals, apparently trying to find just one.
"What's wrong?" Questioned Omega, who had just entered the room.
"I can't find the gem I was going to give my mom for her birthday. The party is in two hours, and I don't have enough time to find a new one."
"...Are you looking for the sapphire and ruby colored one?"
"Yes."
Upon receiving that answer, Omega moved her hand through her hair and pulled out a gem matching the description Zeta had provided.
"You dropped this a few hours ago. I tried to give it back, but you weren't exactly available."
For a moment, Zeta stared at Omega, before pulling her into an embrace, much to the pale skinned operative's embarrassment and physical discomfort.
XXXXXXXXXX
Yet again, another screen change.
(OOC: Assume that all XXXXXXX represent a scene change from here on out)
XXXXXXXXXXX
"I have need of one of you to help me oversee a new project," remarked Celm. "Any volunteers?"
Instantly, Omega's are shot up, as did a few others.
"Alright, well then, let's put it to a vote."
As each operative's designation was called out (at least of the ones who raised their hands), one or two hands would be raised in support of them. When Omega was called, though, five hands shot up to support her.
"Well, it seems Imega has the most support. Looks like you will be the lucky or to oversee this project."
Instantly, those who had supported her erupted into cheers.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
"Hey, we're going to go snow boarding down a comet, want to join us?" Asked Tau.
"Sorry, but not tonight," replied Omega. "I have some things to finish up. More responsibilities now."
"We understand," responded Zeta. "I hope they aren't too hard."
XXXXXXXX
"Her, we're going to go watch an eclipse, you want to come?" Asked Zeta.
"No, I still need to clean up those giant worms Queneeria accidentally unleashed, maybe some other time," was Omega's answer.
"Okay. Well, call us if you finish early."
XXXXXXXXXXX
"We're going to go sky diving down to a hollow planet's core, can you come with us?" Asked Tau, who now seemed rather worn out and unsure to ask in the first place.
"Not this time - need to look after Celm's wife's eggs."
"...okay," replied Tau, though his tone of voice made it clear things were not okay.
XXXXXXXXX
"We're going to head over to Mithrenes VI and catch some sun...Can you come? Please?" Asked Zeta.
"I'm really sorry, but no. I already promised Celm that I would help him with something later."
"But tou've promised him so much already! Can't you just take one little break to spend some time with us?"
"I'm sorry, but no."
"Why? Ever since you were promoted, you prioritize helping him over spending time with us. I know you don5 like some of the things you have to do for hI'm, so why? Why do you do it all? What do you owe him?"
"...everything."
"First I've heard of it."
"Maybe I'll tell you that someday."
"Wouldn't Count on it."
XXXXXXXXX
With that, the last video ended.
...Somehow, that opened up more questions than it answered.
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AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!