Star Citizen Online: Isekai Edition

Arcturus knew that if Jenaiel had reported this information to the Imperial Military, then it would have been taken seriously and taken care of very fast. It would still be problematic as they lacked definitive proof because, without the proof, the Imperial military wouldn't act against the colony on the Ziras IV and the possible bug infestation.

"Even when I report it, without the proof, the best thing that they would do would be to send investigators to the Ziras IV, but that would take considerable time. It would be for the best if we could find proof of the bug infestation, take over crucial positions in the colony, and present it together. With my House name behind the report, it is possible that the matter would be taken care of very swiftly, and they would either send the Medjay or the Director to handle the threat."

Jenaiel knew much better than Arcturus how the Imperial Bureaucracy worked and everything around it.

She knew that even if the suspicions about the possible bug infestations were reported to the Empire, then the maximum that would happen would be that the Empire would send several investigators to the Ziras IV to confirm the reports.

But that was already late, because that would take a much longer time.

What they needed right now was to obtain some sort of proof that the Arachnids at the Ziras IV indeed managed to infect and infiltrate the colony and were confirmed threats. Once this was confirmed, they could submit the report directly together with the proof, which would prompt the Empire to act directly as soon as possible.

With the name of the House Luxford behind it, the Imperium would immediately act against the Arachnids on the Ziras IV and investigate the possible infestations on the different colonies and possibly even the other Fleets and other installations that were in contact with the Ziras IV.

Solitas Star Domain was the epicenter of the conflict against the Arachnids, and the Empire took every breach of the security in the Solitas Star Region extremely seriously, but they won't act just on the suspicions and hypotheses.

That won't do good to anyone.

"Hmm... then we shall confirm if there is indeed infestation on the Ziras IV. However, what would happen if we confirmed that the bugs secretly controlled some of the highest-ranking personnel on the Ziras IV?"

Arcturus asked because he himself wasn't really that familiar with the procedures that the Imperium implemented in regard to the possible bug infestations like this one that could be happening right now at the Ziras IV.

Even if the bugs had managed to infect a few high-ranking officials from the Planetary Defense Forces, it would still be a catastrophic scenario, and they needed to find the true extent of the bug infestation on the Ziras IV.

"The Directorate would handle it, or if the situation is deemed to be unsalvagable, they would send in the Medjay with the orders on the extermination of the entire colony. In the end, the Arachnids are currently the greatest threat to the Imperium, even greater than the Greenskins or the Veren Republic."

He only briefly heard about the Directorate and knew that it was some kind of secret service in the Imperium that acted as secret service, espionage agency, assassination agency, and also as some sort of Inquisition and had only the sole mission.

To preserve the very existence of the Eternal Empire of Asurya, whatever the cost is.

He knew of their existence only because his master was Arsit Byrmellir. The Directorate wasn't an official state agency; its very own existence was based on a special article of the Imperial Constitution. Even among the citizens of the Eternal Empire of the Asurya, the Directorate was often regarded as a myth and legend.

The Directorate operated in the deepest shadows on behalf of the Empire and carried out the most impossible tasks. It also often worked with the Imperial Office of Military Intelligence on some of the most sensitive topics and problems.

Overall, the Directorate eliminated the threats to the Empire before the threats themselves realized that they existed. It was rather a ruthless job, but very much needed in this unforgiving universe that was filled with cruelty and where only those powerful thrived.

On the other hand, he wasn't actually that surprised that Jenaiel knew about the existence of the Directorate.

She was a member of the most prestigious and powerful Bloodline Lineage Aristocratic Household in the entire Imperium, so it was bound that she would hear something about the existence of the Directorate.

"Then shall be it."

Arctuurus said as they resumed eating their dinner for the time being because there was nothing really they could do. At least, Arcturus convinced Jenaiel to contact one of her uncles, who was an Admiral in the Navy that was stationed not far from the Ziras Star System, just a few hundred Star Systems away, about her conversation with Arcturus.

With this being done, if their suspicions were confirmed and they obtained proof, they would be able to mobilize the entire Fleet to take care of the problem and quarantine the Ziras Star System, which would be most crucial.

When they finished eating their dinner, both of them sat on the couch that was positioned directly in front of the fireplace as Arcturus poured both of them a little bit of some alcohol that he bought at the Phoenix Prime in the city off the Celestara.

"Also, what is the protocol in these situations?"

As they were sitting on the couch, he asked her because Jenaiel had shown herself to be pretty knowledgeable about many things related to this. At a certain parts, it was surprising, because he would never really expect it from Jeniael.

He would expect it from Zehal, perhaps, but from Jeniael?

She wasn't really a paragon of knowledge and education.

She was the one who solved all of her problems with her fists and attacked first without warning.

"Normally, the start protocol would be to put the entire planet and preferably the entire star system on quarantine, and the situation would be solved either by the ground invasion if the planet is essential to the Empire or through the complete extermination of the entire lifeforms on the planet. Ziras IV isn't a strategic planet of importance to the Empire, but at the same time, it is one of the Frontier Worlds, so the possibility of the Imperial Navy bombarding the Ziras IV into smitterness is probably zero. So, even if they decide to do something, they would at max send in the ground troops to contain the situation depending on the degree of the contamination, but if the situation already got out of hand, then the Central Intelligence would have noticed it, meaning the infestation of the bugs."
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The procedures in the containment of the bug-infested worlds were strict and often resulted in the destruction of the entire planet, as the Empire wasn't taking any chances with them.

"This entire situation with the bugs is becoming weirder and weirder... hopefully, the Academy will raise the amount of the rewards for this mission if it proves to be more problematic than it seems."

Arcturus hoped that the Imperial Phoenix Military Academy would increase the number of Points for this mission because if it was indeed more challenging than it seemed, then the higher rewards would be far more than just appropriate.

"They should... if the situation is far more severe on the Ziras IV, then it seems, then I would also like a higher number of the Points for the mission."

Jenaiel also wasn't really that keen on risking her life in the infested colony for just 100,000 Academy Points altogether because while one hundred thousand Academy Points was a very high number, it wasn't worth risking her life.

Initially, when she convinced Arcturus to choose this mission, she thought that the mission on the Ziras IV was just an ordinary cleaning mission of the Arachnid presence on the planet and nothing more.

From the first look, it indeed looked like it, because it wasn't that serious or severe or anything if one looked at it for the first time. Initially, she thought that this would be a rather simple mission, albeit more challenging, as it would require them to destroy the Arachnid Nest located on the planet, but nothing more.

If it was indeed true that the Arachnids had managed to bypass the protections against the take-over of an infestation, then it would mean that the danger rating of this mission has skyrocketed several times over and over.

And that was probably her mistake, and she knew that Arcturus was most probably pretty pissed off at her for dragging him into this mess. They even dragged Zehal into this endeavor, which also wasn't part of her plan.

She seriously doubted that no matter the situation, their lives were in danger, though... in the end, all three of them were especially precious to the Eternal Empire of the Asurya, so if anything went wrong, it would be possible that the Empire would send some powerful Beyondetr to save them.

Every one of them wore a certain device that was monitoring their life functions and everything, even the danger levels.

Technically speaking, if they were in a situation where they could die at any time, the device would activate and create a barrier around them that was impregnable by anyone below the Beyonder Realm, and it would also start healing them at a rapid pace while sending distress signals to all of the Imperial Beyonders.

Only a few people in the Imperium had such privilege that they were given this device, and obviously, all three of them had one due to their importance to the Empire. All of them had Super-High Risk Psyker Abilities of very high importance to the Empire, so it was only logical that the Empire would ensure their survival.

"Still... the bugs are encroaching on the territory of the Empire closer and closer. Perhaps they are preparing for another wave of attacks on the Solitas Star Domain; in the end, that Star Domain is the only one that is preventing them from conquering the entirety of the Nihilus Star Region."

From his talks with the Bator-Commandant Irene Verinus Tarun, he knew that the Solitas Star Domain was the epicenter of the Imperial Forces at the Nihilus Star Region. If the Solitas Star Domain falls to the bugs, then the rest of the Star Region will follow.

The Solitas Star Region houses most of the Imperial Defense Fleets and Space Fortresses spread around the Star Region that could be deployed anywhere around the Nihilus Star Region in the case of a bug attack.

For the Empire, the Solitas Star Domain was of paramount importance and couldn't fall under any circumstances.

"Maybe, the last on happened several decades ago so it would be only logical that they would try something. The Nihilus Star Region is the entrance gate to the wider Andromeda Galaxy for the bugs, so they are especially keen on conquering the entire Nihilus Star Region. Shame that they are attacking just the Empire and not those blue-skinned bastards to the south."

Arcturus raised his brow when he heard Jeniael cursing at Thevarians, who were in the control of the Veren Republic. Even though the Veren Republic consisted of many species and races, the Thevarians were in supreme control of the Republic as they were the founding species and also the strongest species.

Often called blue-skins as they... well, they had blue-colored skins.

"Hmm... unfortunately, the Nihilus Star Region is too far from the core territories of the Veren Republic, but I heard that some time ago, there was an uncharted wormhole that appeared in the Nihilus Star Region that is still in formation and soon will become stable for the safe usage."

He remembered one of the news lately that had been going around the Imperial NetSpehere and wondered where the wormhole would lead. Usually speaking, the wormhole could lead anywhere as it could connect to any point in the space without a problem.

"It would be good if it led to the core worlds of the Republic. At least those blue-skinned bastards would bleed, and we would have the perfect opportunity to invade their territory."

Jeniael laughed a bit at the idea, because if it indeed happened, then it would be the game changer for the political landscape of the entire Andromeda Galaxy.

Because the Andromeda Galaxy had only two High-Level Factions, namely the Eternal Empire of Asurya and the Veren Republic, if one of them fell or was severely weakened, then the other one would have a free hand to move as it wished.

"The Republic is around ten times larger than the Empire, and the amount of manpower it has right now outnumbers the Imperium by one hundred to one. Yet the idea has merit; they are not fighters, and most of them had little to no zero military culture and once their numbers are quelled down considerably, their threat level would also decrease greatly... and who would do that better than the Arachnids."

Arcturus said that he wouldn't be surprised if the Empire was already manipulating the wormhole and trying to connect it to the core worlds of the Veren Republic. In fact, because the wormhole wasn't that close to the Imperial Space in the Nihilus Star Region, he thought that it was very probable.

He knew that while the Veren Republic had the numbers, far more numbers than the Empire and far bigger territory, they were far inferior in the aspect of the mindset and quality of their armed forces.

The Veren Republic controlled most of the South-Western Galatic Quadrant, consisting of several Star Regions and was composed of many tens of member species of the Republic as most of them joined out of their free will.

This multi-species slash multi-culturalism approach was also their greatest weakness because there were many clashing cultures and species in the Republic that were outright incompatible with each other, or in other cases, they hated each other.

Arcturus knew that once it came to that, it would be rather easy to exploit that and the best way to exploit that than the crisis. He knew that the bugs would be the very perfect crisis and not the Empire because the Veren Republic deeply despised the Empire for their culture and everything related to it.