Interstellar Age

Though the Confederation of Worlds didn’t know it yet, but the degenerate and hedonistic lives which they all lived would soon be coming to a complete and total end. Standing on Earth in a city that was located in what was once Germany centuries ago was a man who appeared to be in his thirties.

He did not dress like the majority of people in these worlds; he had neither vibrant hair colors, nor an array of piercing and cybernetics. Instead, he looked rather normal, or as normal as a human in this era could be.

His skin was brown, but not exceptionally dark and his hair was black as oil, but straight enough to slick back. For years, this man had been stationed in the Confederation of Human Worlds, waiting for the day on which the invasion would finally arrive.

And though the people who walked the streets, engaging in their decadent ways, did not realize it yet. That day was today. This man was dressed in a finely tailored suit, something that was a rarity on Earth these days, and gazed at his old fashion watch. Which was set not to Earth time, but the time on Germania.

Watching as the hands ticked by, waiting for the exact moment when the news would break that the Germanic race had returned to reclaim the world which gave birth to them.

Bruno was one of Erich’s many brothers, in his past life he would be in the same position he was now. And though his relationship with Erich in his past life was a complicated one. In this life it was one of reverence.

Bruno had watched as his “mutant” brother went on to become the Empire’s formost General, “leading” the Germanic Race in its battles against its enemies, only to eventually succeed Hans Epp as the next supreme leader.

Bruno was too young at the time to understand that Erich’s military service was fabricated in this timeline, and to this day, did not question it, even if in the back of his mind some of it didn’t make senese with what he knew.

Instead, Bruno followed his brother’s example. First by entering the military, serving as a Star Marine where he saw little if any action, before eventually proving to Military Intelligence that he had exceptional abilities in espionage.

He was eventually transferred into the ranks of Military Intelligence, where he now served deep undercover as the CEO of one of the Confederation of Human World’s newest, and most capable military contractors.

It was, of course, using woefully outdated Germanic tech, tech that could not possibly resist a war with the Empire. But it was decades ahead of what the Confederacy actually had in service right now. Rapidly making it the largest and most prominent military arms corporation in the Confederacy.

Bruno, or under the identity of Hernan, was more powerful than the president of the confederacy himself, and though nobody knew it, there was a backdoor written into the code of every single piece of technology he sold to the confederation’s military, and mercenaries. A backdoor which once activated would render every single piece of military equipment manufactured by his company inoperable.

It was because of this that Bruno was waiting in his office, gazing upon what Earth had become over the centuries with a smug look on his face. Soon he would be given the order, the order to completely cripple the Confederacy’s defenses, allowing the Germanic military to do anything they wished with what little territory humanity had carved out of space.

While Bruno was waiting for the signal to begin, the doors to his office opened, revealing the figure of a woman who had a similarly refined and normal appearance to himself. The woman was short by Germanic standards, standing only at around 5’3, and like Bruno’s current body, had light a light brown complexion and dark hair.

She spoke to her boss with an almost hesitant tone in her voice. As she announced his guests who had arrived.

“Sir, I don’t mean to intrude on your… Alone time… But the President is here to see you… Shall I send him in?”

Bruno, however, shocked the young woman as he pulled out a glass and poured two drinks. Though he knew his secretary was perhaps the only decent person he met while in the confederacy. Insofar as she neither drank, consumed drugs or other toxic chemicals, nor was she promising in any way.

He still demanded that she sit and share a drink with him. An offer that shocked her, as until now, Bruno had encouraged her more traditional lifestyle. A lifestyle that was almost extinct in the Confederacy at this point in time.

“Bianca… I am afraid I do not intend to speak with the President today. Someone else can escort him off of our premises. Please…. Come and sit with me… I would prefer you by my side today. As I fear, if you were to wander too far, I would not be able to protect you from what is to come….”

Bianca was confused by Bruno’s statements. It was only natural. There was a very foreboding tone in his voice as he spoke of protecting her from a very cryptic threat. In the years since she had been hired by the man, she had never once heard him speak this way before.

Judging by the severity in his tone, he knew something, something she did not. And her instincts told her to trust Bruno, as until now he had never before done any harm to her. Nor abused his power like most employers would in this degenerate society.

Thus she sat down in front of the man’s desk as he drank from his glass of distilled spirits, something until now she had seldom seen him do. Still, she refused his generous offer, and was instead more interested in what he was warning her about.

“Sir, I appreciate the offer, but you know I don’t drink… Instead, can you tell me about what you mentioned? What exactly is coming that you are so concerned about?”

Despite the young woman’s insistence on refusing to drink, Bruno left the glass for her, as he knew soon enough she would want to taste the amber liquid, if not simply to find some little comfort in what was about to happen.

Instead, Bruno continued to drink, and explain that the society she had grown up in was doomed to extinction. And he did so in a way that made her deeply wary.

“What is to come? Well, of course, that would be your reckoning. The favored sons of Earth will be returning today to end the borrowed time that you are all living on. For five hundred years, we prepared, we grew stronger. While you enjoyed the so-called peace and freedom that allowed yourselves to waste your lives in endless hedonism, believing that you were safe from them.

But you were wrong… You see, out there in the greater galaxy, the descendents of the Germanic League still exist. And they have grown exceptionally powerful. Far more than you can possibly realize. But make no mistake, my dear Bianca, they have never forgotten what you all did to them, how you tried to destroy them. And we have never forgiven you.”

Bianca began to tremble. It was very clear what Bruno was saying, especially since he used the term “we” when expressing his people’s rage. She was just about to ask how this was all possible when another one of his employees rushed into the room, declaring a state of emergency.

“Sir, we have an emergency! We have just lost contact with the mining colony in the Luhman system! The last report said something about UFOs entering the area! What do we do?”

Knowing this was the signal, Bruno placed his drink down on the table and looked at his watch. He smirked devilishly as he clicked a button on his desk before reclining back in his chair and relaxing with his hands in his lap. The words he spoke would be forever imprinted on Bianca’s mind.

“And so it begins… Javier, you are free to take the day off. Do not fret about the Luhman system. Everything is under control. In fact, tell everyone else they can take the day off. There is much cause for celebration…”

Though the employee named Javier did not know what there was to celebrate, he did not even remotely care. The CEO said everything was under control, and that everyone could take a day off. Clearly, this was an opportunity he would not waste on stupid questions.

Once Javier was out the door and shut it behind him, Bianca looked at her boss with a look of horror on her face. She then gazed upon her hands and saw that they were trembling, where she ultimately decided to take the man up on his offer.

“Sir… I think I would like that drink right about now….”

Bruno simply smiled, the malevolence look on his face completely gone, instead replaced with an almost pitiful and gentle expression as he handed the woman her drink, all while expressing his thoughts on her actions.