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“A few millions years ago, the creatures that we call Precursors began ruling our galaxy. These godlike entities have been bending the world to their will for centuries. They’re the ones who created iridium, the Signal, Bions, and Crystallids. Back when Bartle deciphered the Signal on Earth, it was a call from the Precursors to come find them. But it had been an old meaning of the Signal.

They travelled and created uninterrupted until they came across those who did not fit into their concept of the world. Murderers of life, creatures of nightmares. And the most frightening thing about them was that they knew a way to destroy not only the technology, but the Precursors themselves, despite the fact that they had been invincible to most weapons. Several of the immortal rulers of the galaxy were killed. And then… The Signal morphed into a dying scream. It was corrupted. The blasphemous monsters were defeated, but the Precursors learned a bitter truth: the galaxy was doomed to plunge into an endless war. Then they destroyed almost all of their creations and left the Milky Way. But according to Bartle’s prophecy, one day they will come back to once again shine the crimson light of their power across the galaxy.

Crystallids and Bions no longer serve the Precursors, and the stars are being plagued by the war between them. Humans were also dragged into this conflict because of the Revenants’ mistakes. The traitors of the Jericho brought around the Invasion when the Sleeper chose the path of egoism. But at the same time, she is the sign that the power of the Precursors is not completely gone. I don’t know why the Sleeper was able to see the things that Bartle himself would probably be blind to. How did she manage to look at the world through the eyes of the gods and survive?

However, many of what has been said might not be important right now. Bions have reached a great level of control over the galaxy, and they take interest in humans, unlike Crystallids. They see your people as potential eternal slaves. Listen, descendant of the nameless General, it is still in your power to try and prevent the enslavement of humanity. There may even be a way to escape Bions.”

After saying that, the Oracle fell silent. His face, burdened with centuries of living, was no longer looking hostile; there was a hint of faint hope in his eyes. He no longer believed in miracles, having witnessed every war for the Bartle sector. But a miracle happened nonetheless.

“It’s unexpected that you’re asking for help,” said the general. “Propose a plan and I may consider it, but only if you will share some of the secrets of the Jericho ship building with me.”

“I am an oracle, not an engineer. But I know some things that may prove useful to your technicians. The humanity is in danger right now, and Jericho struggles to fulfill its objectives. However, there is a way to make the Bartle sector more stable and reduce the numbers of Crystallids travelling to your sectors from there. There is a pocket dimension Techs’ stash that has powerful weapons but no energy. If you fix its generators and transport it to our plane, its automated weaponry may be controlled by the Sentinels.”

“An interesting offer,” said the Emperor. “Give me assurances that my men will not be harmed by the weapons, and the codes to access the stash. You will be issued a terminal to contact me. This is all the time I have for you today.”

Having said that, Ironside turned the recording off and left the room, heading to his office. Several minutes later, the ministers of defense and finance requested a meeting with him. The Emperor opened the door and opened the galaxy map.

“Greetings,” he said dryly. “Before I listen to your reports, I want to present two projects that may help improve our reputation and financial situation.”

The Emperor pointed to the Damned Flotilla and continued:

“This region is dangerous and unstable, but rich with iridium. Moreover, there are still billions of Imperial citizens living there, suffering. We could act as part of a humanitarian initiative and gather those willing to work at our factories and research laboratories or join our fleet. In fact, we have enough forces to provide defense to convoys. The New Empire will be opposed to this, but they won’t confront us directly. We would be able to uphold the semblance of order in the region using the abandoned legion bases by stationing a few of our forces there, accompanied by units of local residents, who are highly motivated to improve the situation in the region.”

The defense minister frowned and said:

“But we would be leaving many of our systems with no proper defense. And if we don’t involve many squadrons, then with the Crystallid threat to the east and south of the Damned Flotilla, we will easily lose control of the situation as our forces would be too scattered.”

The finance minister added:

“This project will require quite a lot of funds all at once. However, yes, it will bear fruit. I think in a couple of years, if successful, we could increase the revenue to the treasury by several percents. However, I still don’t see how we can defend at least our transport ships in the region if we don’t have multiple squadrons involved.”

Ironside smiled and said: “Then my order is to prepare a humanitarian convoy, two reconnaissance squadrons, and one attack squadron. One ‘Drake’ is to be placed in reserve, however, I hope that parading at least one cruiser in the sector will not be necessary.”

When the ruler finished speaking, the defense minister asked the Emperor: “Your Highness, the special operation forces commander has reported that you were interrogating someone from Jericho. Does that have anything to do with this plan?”

Ironside frowned and replied: “If he provides any useful information, you’ll be the first to know. But for bad or for good, the Jericho man is insane. I will try to get anything useful out of him to make our fleet stronger. As for you, minister, try to avoid asking pointless questions in the future.”