"Oh, my dear Beta, I admit I got a little worked up yesterday."
Xi Yan sat in his familiar office, striking Commander Gendo's classic pose, while Beta's figure stared speechlessly at him from the computer screen.
"I've realized that having two extra older sisters isn't such a bad thing. You know, the United Nations of Earth isn't the only side that can use this as leverage." Xi Yan's face was deadly serious.
"With my intelligence advantage, why couldn't I use this relationship to extract intelligence from the United Nations of Earth instead, or even recruit them as spies for our nation?"
Beta commented with interest, "That would certainly be heartless, but it's a viable approach."
"But they are your family, after all. Wouldn't doing that hurt your relationship too much? According to my database, you humans and other organic beings are emotional and easily swayed by your feelings."
Xi Yan raised his eyes and stared coldly at the computer. "You actually think I'm someone who lets feelings matter?"
"Oh, right. Everyone knows the Marshal of the Interstellar Human Military Junta is a cold-blooded, ruthless man of action. Rather than talk about feelings with you, I might as well talk about our new colony," Beta joked.
"The voices of the Empire's citizens seem a little too shrill."
"But they're right. I've already discarded those useless feelings. Our civilization is all I care about."
"Anyway, let's leave the matter of my family for another time. We're still rebels in the eyes of the United Nations of Earth, after all. Now isn't the time to make contact," Xi Yan said, then opened the computer's communications interface. "All right, go amuse yourself somewhere else."
"I'll go back to helping the Academy of Sciences with its research." With that, Beta vanished.
Xi Yan hurried to contact his dear General Ning Zhiyuan.
{Xi Yan: Where are our troops now?}
{Xi Yan: [Emoji: impatient, impatient, impatient]}
{Ning Zhiyuan: [Sweating emoji]}
{Ning Zhiyuan: We'll arrive tomorrow, but reaching Amat Eiro II will take another ten days or so.}
{Ning Zhiyuan: We've prepared a robotic body especially for you, Marshal. With the VR Device in your office, you'll be able to join our Army on the expedition.}
{Xi Yan: Sure. Do a good job in this battle and I'll give you a bonus when you get back.}
{Xi Yan: You've already reached the highest rank, so I can't promote you any further [Smirk]}
{Ning Zhiyuan: Of course I know that. As long as you don't get rid of me once I've outlived my usefulness, Marshal, I'm fine even without a bonus [Sweating]}
{Xi Yan: Don't worry. I wouldn't entrust the job to you if I doubted you. You have my unwavering support [Thumbs-up]}
{Ning Zhiyuan: Thank you for your trust, Marshal [Flower]}
{Xi Yan: All right, get back to work. I'll come have some fun tomorrow [Hawking thumbs-up emoji]}
Xi Yan closed the communications window and rubbed his hands together excitedly.
In another half a month, I'll get to play a first-person VR shooter!
*Awesome, awesome, awesome! **Battlefield: 2200, launch!***
----------Your friendly scene divider is building a Stellar Base----------
At the edge of the Amaterro System's gravitational field.
Amid a dazzling blue radiance, two corvettes and a large Faster-than-Light Construction Ship emerged from the Hyperlane, appearing out of thin air at the edge of the star's domain within that blinding light. Their speed then plunged to sub-light speed, and they slowly made their way into the star system.
It took nearly ten days for the fleet to cross the outermost few planetary orbits at sub-light speed. Just as Science Ship One had done before them, the three ships passed straight between Amat Eiro I and the star.
The Construction Ship left the fleet first, heading to its designated position near the dim star to build a Stellar Base, while the two corvettes headed straight into orbit above Amat Eiro II. The entire journey took four days.
Faster-than-light travel was impossible within a star's gravitational field, so most of the travel time was actually spent cruising through star systems at sub-light speed. By contrast, traversing a Hyperlane took exactly ten days, no matter how many light-years separated the two systems.
Stellaris technology, kid!
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