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When the Emperor went to his cabin, the first thing he did was call the Blackwood corporation executives. The smiling clerks began to tell him how happy they were to see him back. The Emperor listened to them for a couple of minutes, then asked to speak with Ariadne. The joy vanished from the faces of the corporation’s directors.
“I plan to invest a large sum in the shipyards,” the Emperor said to Ariadne. “I need dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands of heavy cruisers. In return, I will not prevent you from further expanding your influence. I will even turn a blind eye to the presence of a ship’s assistant named Ariadne in my territories. In return, I demand only one thing: loyalty.”
At the same moment, Bartle was talking to his Oracles:
“Jericho’s main mission here is complete. We need to gather the remnants of our battered fleet, repair the arks we have left, and retreat to the periphery of the galaxy, far from the gaze of the Empire and the Federation, who are now stronger than us. Right now, the only thing holding the Emperor back from attacking us is the fact that the Federation would definitely be able to destroy his fleet if he got involved in another war. So, I order you to gather the Raid and all the Families that are ready to leave. We will set out in a few days. The desire to remain in the Frontier sectors is not encouraged, but I have never taken away your right to choose.
Meanwhile, the Federation was discussing a possible war with the Empire and Jericho at the same time. One of the ministers said:
“They have a perfect excuse to start a war: the Vanguard’s information about the Precursor sector has led to iridium fever and war with the Aliens. And the Emperor, since he has, perhaps temporarily, united with Bartle, will find leverage over our people by starting a real war, which we may not win. What’s more, almost eight percent of the Armada was lost in completing a ‘private’ contract. Who accepted it in the first place? Why do we find out that, albeit for fabulous sums of money, a significant part of our fleet was fighting for the interests of the Emperor and Bartle only when the battle is over? Who could have pulled this off?!”
The Federation’s chief information security expert said:
“I managed to find out something. Apparently, a TV presenter named Marcus Chromakeykus was involved, but it seems that the wrong person was contacted. And it looks like the unfreezing of the Eternal Vanguard unit is connected with this contract.”
The name of this individual caused some of the ministers to burst into hysterical laughter, and the Minister of Information Security realized that this might very well be his last day in office. However, none of those present in the room had any idea that the “mistress” of this TV presenter was currently demanding to speak with the Emperor.
“I was just about to contact you, my dearest friend,” said the Emperor mockingly to the owner of the legendary black dreadnought. “It seems that you are no longer ‘hate’, but ‘summer’? Well, it doesn’t matter, as you can see, I have achieved my goals. And for destroying our common enemy, I will require a small gift from you. I need to talk to someone... unusual.”
“I won’t hide my joy that the master of the Black Abyss is finally dead,” said Ms. Summer, then asked her old acquaintance:
“Why did you hide everything from my Order when you knew that we wish only death upon the Precursors?”
“There is at least one among the Biones who is still loyal to the Precursors,” replied the Emperor. “The horrors on Earth, as you understand, are his doing. But there was another in league with him, fortunately for us, he is no longer. I couldn’t take any chances, so I contacted you at the last moment. You have no idea how hard it was to hide from Bartle that you were involved in our operation in the Nith system. Now back to business. Is the Crystallids’ machine still not accessible to anyone?”
“If we don’t count your friend Kathleen, you’re the only one who has reached the Fringe and become like one of the Precursors, the more adequate ones,” said Summer.
“That’s a shame,” she added sadly, “it would have been much more convenient than my method of immortality with clones or Bartle’s almost complete cybernetization. I’ll find a gift for you. Wait for a delivery. Just let me listen to the recording afterwards.”
“You can watch it live if you come in person,” said the Emperor, “and one last question: do you still have any partially unfrozen personalities from the Vanguard that could be useful if negotiations with the Federation don’t go according to plan?”