Star Citizen Online: Isekai Edition

Phoenix Star Region, Starflame Star Segment, Phoenix Star Sector, Imperial Star Domain, Asurya Star System, Imperial Throne World Phoenix Prime, Celestara, Immortal Bastion

The Immortal Bastion was the Imperial Citadel where the Imperial Bureaucracy was stationed, and it also served as the home for Lord Padishah-Marshall of the Eternal Empire of the Asurya, and it was also the headquarters of the entire Imperial Military High Command.

Immortal Bastion, as the Imperial Citadel, was officially called, as the name was supposed to symbolize the immortality of the Empire and was a beacon of the fact that the Empire would never be destroyed by anyone or anything.

On the top of the Imperial Bastion was the Imperial Throne Room of the Eternal Empire of the Asurya. It was an enormous throne room with an intricate and organic architectural design in the most traditional style of the Imperium.

The focal point was a majestic throne shaped like a stylized Phoenix, with wings extending outward in an almost surreal, biomechanical style. The Phoenix, as the national symbol of the Empire and also the spiritual pillar of the Imperium, was taken as the shape of the Imperial Throne.

The throne room featured high ceilings, glowing patterns on the walls, and an overall design that blends science fiction and fantasy aesthetics from the Imperial mythos and the myths of the creation of the Empire. It certainly gave the Empire a somewhat esoteric feeling.

The hall was lined with Imperial Guard in their golden armors, standing at attention with long Force Spears and Force Halberd, emphasizing the power and authority of the ruler. They were standing in the room like motionless statues that were not moving an inch, ever vigilant in their most sacred duty of guarding the Lord Padishah-Marshall.

The floor had an intricate, flowing pattern, and a long red carpet led up to the elevated throne. The lighting was atmospheric, with soft glows from the walls and ceiling, contributing to an ethereal and otherworldly ambiance.

It was rather ironic, because even though everything about the Imperium felt so rough, militaristic and violent, this place felt like a sanctuary of peace, nobility and tranquility.

On the throne, the Lord Padishah-Marshall was sitting.

Ardyn Tiberrius.

Ardyn Tiberrius is a tall man, being tall around 187 centimeters with red-violet hair, amber eyes, and strong facial features. He appeared to be middle-aged and dressed in a black trench coat and pinstripe trousers, an attire that he liked to wear, even though it wasn't that much ceremonial, but it was the traditional outfit of the Imperial Fashion, actually.

He wore a red scarf and a hooded, gray and white flower-print mantle. On the side of his throne, he had a black fedora, that he liked to wear, and the attachment to his left arm, it was something like a black winglike accessory which had more symbolic and ritualistic meaning to the Imperium.

"So, how is the situation in the Ziras Star System? Has the bug problem been resolved?"

The situation within the Arachnid infestation some of their colonies was a great problem for the Eternal Empire of the Asurya. While it wasn't unusual that the bugs would manage to penetrate their Imperial Defenses and land on the Imperial Colonies, infestation of the Imperial Citizens was something new.

Though only relatively new.

However, Arachnids are managing to bypass all of the Imperial Defenses, checks, and countermeasures against possible bug infestations, and yet the entire colony has fallen into bug infestation.

This was a very serious problem.

A problem that the Empire needed to address as soon as possible, before it could lead to a much bigger problem.

"Yes. The Medjay and three students of the Imperial Phoenix Military Academy led the strike against, infested and captured all of the targets that were now transported to the Xeno Containment Facility within the Imperial Colonial Defense Forces. General Rathari Velot has already started the research on the infested. We should have some basic information within the upcoming few days. Unfortunately, the Cosmic Storm Shroud that is covering the several surrounding Star Systems"
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The liaison from the Directorate immediately ran to the Imperial Citadel the moment they got the confirmation from the Agent Mercury that the situation had already been solved. The Directorate was taking the situation very seriously.

It wasn't every day when the Arachnids managed to get past their defenses.

And the case like this one, when the bugs managed to silently infest the entire colony sooner or later. According to the reports, they managed to infest even the head of the Cybersecurity Department, which was already a very serious breach in their security.

Something that would need to be fixed as soon as possible.

"How long until the Cosmic Storm Shroud would last?"

The presence of the Cosmic Storm Shroud was something that was a curse and a blessing at the same time. If not for the Cosmic Storm Shroud that was right now covering the entire Ziras Star System, they wouldn't be able to exterminate the Arachnids.

Not only that, if not for the Cosmic Storm Shroud, then it was also very possible that the Arachnids would have already called their entire Hivefleet or Spliner Fleet, which was basically a smaller Fleet of the Arachnids, that had splintered from the main Hivefleet and was still under the control of the same Hivefleet.

The presence of the Pseudo Queen Bug as a testament to that, because the presence of the Pseudo Queen Bug was the proof that the Arachnids really wanted to obtain the Ziras IV for their own plans, though what exactly they wanted on the planet was a mystery even to the top analysts in the Directorate.

Even though the Ziras IV was the very mineral-rich industrial world, it didn't have ideal conditions for the Arachnid. Like not entirely, as the conditions of the Ziras IV were extremely hostile to the Arachnids and the environment itself was making it very hard for the Arachnids to hunt for the Biomass.

So...

The question was.

Why were the Arachnids so hell-bent on conquering that place, which seemingly diidn't have anything interesting. Even the location of the Ziras IV was outside for any strategic meaning, so there must be something else on that world which was attracting the attention of Arachnids or at least one Hive Fleet to the point, where the Hive Fleet was going to risk it all.

"4 Months, Your Majesty."

The Lord Padishah-Marshall visibly cringed when he heard the number, but there was nothing they could do, because the Cosmic Strom Shroud wasn't something that even low-level Beyonders could get by.

"Prepare one of the Medjay Fleets and order them to immediately head to the vicinity of the Ziras Star System and wait until the desperation of the Cosmic Storm Shrod. Once it's gone, secure the planet. Medjay, together with the Directorate, would conduct the deepest scans possible on the entire planet and discover what the hell bugs wanted on that world."

Ardyn Tiberrius, as the Lord Padishah-Marshall of the Imperium, immediately relayed the orders. If the bugs were that desperate to obtain something on that planet, then, it was their sacred duty to obtain it first.

Whatever the bugs were scheming there wasn't anything good.

That was for sure.

So he decided to send the entire Fleet of the Medjay Forces and scour the entire planet to see what was so important for the Arachnids, that forced them to disregard every single known and established behavioral pattern that those dammed cursed creatures possessed.

He was sure that it would be something shocking to say.

"Anything else to report?"

Lord Padishah-Marshall of the Imperium asked as he looked at the liaison to the Imperial Throne from the Directorate, as the man then passed him several papers. Some things within the Imperial Bureaucracy were still written in the paper for security reasons and for the sake of tradition?

Who knew.

"These are the names of the students from the Imperial Phoenix Military Academy who took the mission to the Ziras IV. They managed to capture the Pseudo Bug Queen, Brain Bug, and also destroy the entire Arachnid Nest. Disciple of Grandmaster Byrmellir, Heir Apparent of the House Alvix and direct descendant of the House Luxford and favourite granddaughter of High Lord Luxford."

The liaison from the Directorate stated because the trio of the people that were caught in the mess was giving the headaches to the people in the Directorate.

Everyone was more problematic than the other one, and not even the Directorate wanted to get on the bad side of Grandmaster Byrmellir, who was the most powerful Beyonder in the entire Eternal Empire of the Asurya.

"I see that the Imperium invested a lot into buying the Pseudo Bug Queen from the three of them."

Ardyn Tiberrius skimmed with his eyes through he things that the Directorate agreed to pay for the Pseudo Bug Queen and it was a lot in the long run. Though the research value of the Pseudo Bug Queen was much higher than the items of the momentary value, so in the end, depending on their further utilization, it would be worth it.

Just as they were speaking right now, he already had several possible High-Level Star Nations and High-Level Civilizations from the Desolate Cosmic Region who would be very interested in buying any research data that came from the study of the Pseudo Bug Queen.

So any possible losses that the Imperium suffered in the exchange with the privileged trio of Highborne Asuryani was worth it.

"Let it be. Hopefully my Junior Martial Brother would succeed in his endeavors and become another pillar of the Imperium in the future. Right now, we need to redirect the forces and resources into the Arachnids in the Nihilus Star Region."

The liaison of the Directorate borrowed to the Lord Padishah-Marshall as he went to inform the High Command about the decision of the Lord Padishah-Marshall to move one of the Medjay Fleets and a detachment of the Directorate to the Ziras IV after the Cosmic Storm Shroud has passed.

"It seems that the reports were true... There has really been an evolved Hivemind that is outside of the standard behavioral patterns of the Arachnids. This could be problematic... And we also need to scour through the surrounding Star Systems in the case of the infestation."

The unspoken thing remained the fact: they would need to start checking the surrounding Star Systems or perhaps even the entire Star Domain for possible bug infestations. However, that would be much easier done now that they already had methods of identifying the bugs, even despite this new infestation method.

***

Solitas Star Domain, Ziras Star System, Ziras IV

Even Zehal knew how to rest and when to rest, which was one of the most important things in life. Arcturus chose the main bedroom for himself as it was the most natural thing to do, while Jeniael chose the second biggest room in the entire mansion, which coincidentally had the best view of the city.

For the next few months, Arcturus planned to train for a bit, ass he got some amount of Psionic Energy Crystals from the Office of the Governor-General and even though it wouldn't be enough for him to break through to the Gamma-Grade because for that he would need much, much larger amount of the Psionic Energy, but any increase in strength was certainly welcomed.

At the same time, this place was rather peaceful and tranquil, giving him a perfect opportunity to practise the Nuclear Chaos Formula or the swordsmanship because this place was rather tranquil for that.

It was silent, and that was something he needed for his training.

It brought the peace to the mind.

And with peace in mind, one can train much better.

Jeniael was obviously joining him in the training, though only for some parts, because she didn't have the patience for the meditation so she was directly heading to the gym and dojo that was in the villa.

Both of them were surprised, pleasantly at that, how advanced training equipment this place had and how many of them had. This was another added bonus on top of everything that would make their stay more pleasant.

After they arrived at the villa yesterday, Arcturus and Jeniael unpacked their stuff or rather, they ordered the bots to do it for them as they went to eat something and for the first evening and night, neither of them was going to do anything.

Arcturus decided that he would spend his evening by reading some books, as the villa had a library with some books.

Printed ones.

Real ones.

A very rare commodity.

Even though the citizens of the High-Level Star Nations and High-Level Civilizations always prided themselves in how advanced they were and everything, they really for forgot how nice and important the printed books were.

Arcturus always preferred the material version of the book.

Entertainment industry in the Imperium was...

Like something that was cut from a totalitarian regime, but put into clothing of advancement and sci-fi. It was certainly weird to watch for the first time, like there was also zero to none public nudity or sexualization in the entertainment, which was something very unusual but at the same time a welcomed surprise.

Arcturus also found out that there was nothing like pornography in the Imperial NetSphere or that people from the Imperial Space or using the Imperial ID couldn't find such content even through the ExtraNet due to how dangerous it was on the brain.

Which again wasn't that surprising.

Even when he died, it was generally accepted that addiction to the pornography was one of the worst addictions possible, as constant exposure to such content had severe damage on the brain, led to the many mental disorders, and severe depressions.

Within the Empire, the Imperial Government strictly controlled everything in the Empire, so it wasn't much of a surprise that many things that were deemed to be dangerous were outright forbidden and couldn't be accessed.

Arcturus sat in the sofa with a book in his hands as he was reading, while drinking a hot chocolate that was prepared by one of the bots. Jeniael meanwhile was sitting next to him as she was too drinking a cup of hot chocolate, but she wasn't really reading but instead observing the fire burning in the fireplace.

Outside of the villa, it was heavily snowing once again, as the weather was getting worse a bit.