"We are arriving in Waterswan now." The pilot told them. The trip to Waterswan was smooth and quick. Just as the reports about the new slipspace engines detailed. These new Puddle-Jumper Transports were quick. It took only a few hours to go from the center of the empire to the edge of the empire.
Natius Vexical, the Emperor, sighed in disappointment. It was a shame they had to keep such revolutionary advancements to themselves. But it would provide them with an edge for the upcoming civil war. Maybe they could sell them afterwards to allies. Or maybe not. It all depended on how this meeting with the Victorium went.
"Have our other ships arrived with our leverage?" Natius asked as he stood up from his seat and stretched. Preparing to disembark.
The pilot took a moment before giving a thumbs up. "Yes sir."
"Perfect." Natius nodded and turned to the shock troopers who began preparing to disembark and continue their guard duties. They had not openly talked the entire time, instead he noticed them using chat rooms and other private communication channels in order to talk.
The Puddle-Jumper landed softly and the rear ramp began lowering. The shock troopers were the first ones out as they spread around the area. Moving to surround the large beige tent that was set up in the middle of this open area.
The emperor walked right towards the tent where a pair of Mar'talic guards were standing on either side of an opening. In front of him were two of the white helmeted shock troopers while the other two walked behind him. The Mar'talic parted the entrance to the tent and the largest white helmeted trooper stepped forward first while the other one stopped the emperor.
After a moment the big one's hand came out as he gave a thumbs up. They walked into the tent and the emperor nodded as he looked at the table in front of him where a pair of individuals were sitting.
They stood up when he entered. Then they all bowed slightly to each other as a form of respect. "It is nice to finally meet the High Priestess of the Victorium Military and the Appointed Diplomat of the Victorium Governing Council." Natius told them and then motioned for them to sit as he moved to sit as well.
As they sat the Mar'talic, the High Priestess of the Victorium Military, was the one to respond. "It is a pleasure to meet the Emperor of the Vexical Emperor as well, I must say I am rather impressed."
"Oh?" Natius pulled off his helmet and set it on the table. "How so?"
"Clan Whix means that for a human species your technology and evolutionary ability are miles ahead of anything your neighbors have." The other creature, the Appointed Diplomat, was the one who talked now. Their voice was a strange set of clicking and wet noises but it still clearly came off as the common language that was developed in the former Grand Hexarian Empire systems. If Natius remembers correctly this species that was made of vines wrapped in the shape of a humanoid form was a Hydragenita.
Natius smiled and shrugged. He took in the rest of the room. There were no other obvious guards aside from his own that were standing in a row behind him. But he could tell there were some hidden ones. It seemed his own guards had picked up on it as well. They had one of their hands on at least one of their weapons.
"So should we get right to it? Or would you first like to talk about what you want out of our deal?" Natius asked as he focused on the politicians in front of him. He had dealt with all manner of politicians, nobles, and business people for the entirety of his life.
"We should talk first. We are actually very open to joining hands and bringing your human faction into the fold. But we are having some issues rising that will need to be addressed eventually. Which is why I asked a diplomat from the Governing Council to join us." The High Priestess explained.
"She means that we have not had another race join us for many years and the old rules of a joining have requirements. But that is not the only issue, just the foremost one we should first discuss." The appointed diplomat took a moment before continuing. "The joining requires a political marriage, a Champion's Tournament, and for all knowledge of the Ancients to be handed over."
Natius narrowed his eyes and frowned. "A political marriage can be easily arranged. I will need to know a bit more about the Champion's Tournament. I assume by Ancients you mean the Requiem, we will not hand over any information we collected."
The appointed diplomat nodded, "we know and are perfectly accepting and understanding but the requirement is one from the Elder Council. In order to not do it we need to abolish the Elder Council. But doing so will cause a civil war since we are removing one of the three councils that have governed over our nation."
"Which is why we needed an appointed diplomat of the Governing Council to join us. We are open to abolishing the Elder Council especially since it was revealed that the Sima had been enslaving the Ancients' AIs at their request. So there is already talk to abolish the council and free the AI they still have enslaved after the Rogue Metal Legion made their demand and a show of strength by appearing near our borders." The High Priestess began explaining with what Natius could only decipher as a smile appeared on her face.
"So you want military help when the time comes?" Natius asked.
"Yes, it will likely be several months from now but a civil war will break out to abolish the Elder Council. We would like to request your assistance and to that end…" The High Priestess slid what Natius could only call their version of a data pad across the table.
Natius picked it up and raised an eyebrow. "You wish to make a unit composed of both Victorium soldiers and Loyalist Vexical soldiers?" He tapped the data pad for a few seconds thinking and then smiled. "I think I have the perfect group. But I do hope at least one of these Accer will join the unit." Natius waved at the empty air around them.
The High Priestess made a more obvious smile that showed off her sharp teeth. While the appointed diplomat made what he could only describe as a confused and surprised noise while saying something in a language he did not speak.
But before any of them spoke one of the Accer disengaged their cloaking technology and stepped forward. "Will the human male that cut off my hand be part of this unit?" She raised her hand showing off the robotic prosthetic replacement she had.
Natius looked over her body and stopped at the holster at her hip that clearly had a Magnus Revolver in it. It then only took him a moment of looking through his own memories to realize what she was talking about. He looked at her and smiled, "yes actually I plan to have Jace Steel, the one that cut off your hand, lead one of the squads of this unit."
Nila looked right at the High Priestess causing her to flinch and groan, "fine you can be part of the joint unit. But we can discuss more about that later and work out the fine print. We should talk about a few other things first." Nila nodded and stepped back disappearing again.
The appointed diplomat let out what sounded like a sigh of relief. "Accer and their libidos are scary. We should discuss which other nations you are friendly with that we should take an allied approach with after the joining."
Natius leaned back, relaxing his muscles and realizing for the first time that the Accer caused him to tense up a bunch for some reason. "Obviously after the civil war their will be three different factions. We will be joining you then, but the prince has a severe case of xenophobia so do not expect anything from him. Then my daughter has her own faction and plans to split off when the inevitable civil war breaks out, if you can approach them with a favorable deal they will easily join. The Oda Empire and Rogue Metal Legion can both be easy allies. We have an unsteady alliance with both the Cthon Conglomerate and the Montez Kingdom. Then we have been helping the Woltar maintain its independence from the Leonair, but when the Vexical Empire shatters the Leonair will come after them. You should approach them to either have them join or forge an alliance." Natius summed up. "That is about it."
"Then I think all we need to do now is hash out all the details." The High Priestess said as the appointed diplomat was quickly making notes on a data pad.
"Actually there is one more thing. A show of good faith and friendship if you will." Natius smiled and then pulled out a data drive and slid it across the table.
The High Priestess picked it up and looked at Natius in confusion. "What is it?"
"The Victorium prisoners captured during all of our battles. The largest contingent came to Oculus Station where your Isaiah the Hammer attacked. From what I understand he will have quite the private report for you. Which also brings me to my recommendation to the joint unit's commander, we should have the commander be Isaiah the Hammer." Natius' explanation as the High Priestess looked through the data drive reading through the many names caused both of them to be surprised.
After a moment the High Priestess understood. The Vexical Emperor was always expecting an offer for a joint military unit.