| The NEO (formerly known as the ITAC) as of now. Ch. 6: Old friends and new lands. �Sir! Emperor Cougar�s ship is approaching from the starboard!� �What? Shields up! Arm weaponry!� �Aye sir... Uhh, sir? He�s haling us, and his shields & weapons aren�t even on standby.� �That�s odd. Well, on screen.� �Mew! How�s it going?� �Jean-Luc�� �Yeah, yeah. I know, I know. Not Mew anymore. Sorry.� �It�s alright, I suppose. Some of my own employees make the very same mistake� Now, to business. What, exactly, are you doing this deep into NEO territory? You know that the HGE and NEO are enemies.� �Yes, see, that is what I�m here for. One of your trusted admirals, a good friend of mine, Admiral Abernathy, explained the whole thing to me. Cleared the whole thing up. It�s alright now. Dude, I�m sorry.� �Really. You hold nothing against me and the NEO now?� �That�s correct. We can restore diplomacies to ally now, if you wish.� �Of course, of course. I am always glad to have one more ally, especially since we do not have to suffer war-free boredom now that I have created my battle simulator.� �Yes, of course. Oh, and I also hear that you�ve done some upgrading on it.� �Yes, we�ve added 200,000 more scenarios to it, including 150,000 that occur in the ancient 21st century and earlier, to even the times of Moses and Ancient Egypt. We�ve also added over 3 million more holodecks, so now we can accompany even more. And that�s only a chip off of the block � the Sphere is capable of us adding over 2 billion more holodecks.� �Awesome. Can I check it out? I�ve got another 15 minutes left before I need to be back at Earth.� �Are you kidding? 15 minutes is scarcely time enough to drive there and back!� �Yeah, with warp technology, it is. But everyone knows that foldspace engines can do that in a fraction of the time.� �What? You mean to say that you�ve finally perfected the technology?� �Of course! Where have you been? �Well, when the ITAC broke away from the HGE, foldspace was a deadly technology, as ships would be ripped apart in the process of using it.� �Ahh, well, in that case, here. We have the abilities to outfit your ships with the technology, considering the fact that they�re almost the same as ours.� �It�d take too long. I�d rather send the technology to the different systems and have them each install it themselves.� �As you wish. We�ll send you the data now. You�ll have it all in about ten seconds.� �Got it. Thank you, JLC.� �Well, now I must go. We�ve talked enough now that I have only 5 minutes left, nowhere near enough time to check out the Sphere. Goodbye for now, Koj.� The comm. channel closed. �Reison, forward that data to the rest of the NEO, immediately. Have them begin upgrading immediately.� �Aye sir.� A week later� �Sir, the first test ship has been launched. It rocketed from Cedron 4 to Earth in less than 20 minutes.� �Excellent, but the HGE is capable of doing the same in even less time.� �I know, sir. We�re working out the bugs, but to perfect it, it�ll take more time.� �Time doesn�t matter. Make it so.� A month later� �Sir! A squadron of ships that were heading to Cedron have vanished!� �What? Send an investigation team down there, IMMEDIATELY!� �Aye sir.� Two hours later� �Sir, they�ve found a wormhole. They believe it leads over 1,000,000 light years away.� �Send an investigation team through.� �Aye, sir.� A month later� �Sir, the investigation team has returned. The wormhole leads 1,218,543 light years away, to a system that the squadron has captured and is calling Keyveray.� �Have they been able to open the other end of the wormhole?� �No, sir, but they are working on it.� The next day� �The wormhole is stable and both sides can be controlled. We have also discovered four more systems, which are now known as Kirn, Zemman, Biier, and Raashii. All have discovered warp technology, but their weaponry is far weaker than ours.� �Send two fleets to conquer them. I have to tend to other matters right now.� Three days later� �Sir! The systems have been conquered, but the wormhole has collapsed!� �Dang. It�ll be far too difficult to rule over the NEO now� I will have to think over these matters. I�ll be in my ready room. Do not bother me till tomorrow.� �Yes, sir.� The next day� �Sir, have you come to a decision yet?� �Yes, I have. I will promote 1st Officer Strake to Co-Emperor position. He will rule with me, helping me keep both parts of the NEO under control. I will explain matters with him later.� �Very well, sir. Do you want me to send for him?� �Yes, please.� Joeno Strake appeared in front of Kojiiriin Omega two minutes later. �You wanted me, sir?� �Yes, I was wanting to promote you.� �Promote me? How??� �Easy. I am promoting you to Co-Emperor, to rule over mostly the new systems that we just conquered.� �Wow. But, I cannot. I haven�t the time.� To be continued� |