Interstellar Age
Chapter 27 The Ghimderi Trade Union’s Representative Arrives

While the Germanic Star-Empire was engaging in its war against the Dvrakian Consortium, the Alfheim Dominion had sortied its fleets, and had even called upon many of its vassals to come to their aid at their border with the Svartalfheim Federation.

Celestia Asterion was the youngest daughter of the Light Elven Empress, yet she was chosen to be the crown princess of the Alfheim Dominion. Though she had yet to even reach one thousand years of age, she was renowned across the western quadrant of the galaxy as a skilled admiral. Thus, she had been dispatched by her mother to the border which her dynasty shared with their darker skinned cousins.

Standing on the bridge of a mega carrier, which was over ten kilometers in length, was the beautiful Elven princess. Her long hair was as white as snow, while her eyes were as golden as the earth's sun. Her skin was a flawless jade white, and her facial features were the absolute limit of perfection.

The relatively young Elven woman was dressed in a white, black and gold admiral's uniform, which had gilded epaulettes, and many prestigious medals adorned above the left breast. Her skirt was relatively short, while her pristine legs were concealed with dark pantyhose and thigh-high boots.

While Celestia sat upon the command chair of her capital ship, she seemed rather bored, as if the tense situation at the border was not the slightest bit entertaining to her. Thus, she could not help but exclaim these feelings aloud, even if the rest of the officers on the bridge did not want to hear her complaints.

"I can't believe I'm stuck here at the border, instead of fighting the Naraku Hive Fleet, which is terrorizing our quadrant of space. Damned dark elves, who do they think they are, making trouble for us when we are in such a dire situation, and what the hell is mother thinking allowing a mere regional power to fight against Terminus? I honestly can't tell what goes through that ancient brain of hers!"

Sitting in the seat near the Captain's chair, was a Rylonian Officer, who had joined the Alfheim Navy after the destruction of his civilization. Only a few million members of his species had survived the hive fleet's attack on their civilization, and he had enlisted in the Alfheim Navy in the hopes of bringing the fight to the Naraku, but instead he was sitting at the border, while monitoring the activities of his suzerain's galactic rivals. Thus, he could empathize with the Princess' viewpoint, while everyone else on the bridge ignored her complaints. Which he immediately gave voice to.

"Your highness, though I agree with your assessment of the situation at hand, the Empress's orders are absolute. But like you say, I will never understand her majesty's obsession with those filthy barbarians…."

Celestia gazed upon the Rylonian bridge officer, who she just now realized held the rank of Midshipman, and closely examined him. The Rylonians were an attractive humanoid species, with facial features similar to that of the Slavic race from Earth's history. However, they had an appearance considerably closer to that of albinos with pale white skin, matching hair, and glowing white eyes. Their ears were pointed, but not to the extent of elves, and they had bioluminescent markings across their flesh were almost akin to tattoos.

Celestia could only sigh in lament, knowing that such an attractive race was damned near extinction, but the man's last words had caught her interest. Specifically, the remarks about the Germanic race being filthy barbarians. In truth, Celestia knew very little about the Germanic Star-Empire other than the fact that they were a recent upstart in galactic civilization which her mother heavily favored. Until now, she had never heard the Rylonian perspective of the Germanic race, and was quick to ask the man about why he had called them such an insulting term.

"I'm curious Midshipman, you called the Germans filthy barbarians… That is quite the insult, and I want to know why you would refer to them by such a harsh term."

The Rylonian Officer had a look of contempt on his face, as he began to explain his disdain for the Germanic race, who had stolen the favor of the Empress which they once had before Lunaria had discovered the fledgling empire a mere three and a half centuries ago.

"Is it not self-evident? The Germanic Star-Empire commonly refers to themselves as a warrior race, yet they have no honor, nor the slightest shred of civility. When they wage war, they completely disregard the lives of innocents, and will exterminate entire worlds if the conquered subjects show the slightest bit of resistance after occupation.

Every species which the Germanic Star-Empire has conquered is eventually exterminated, because they believe all other species are inferior to their own. They have no regard for life outside of their own kind, and they show this in the way they conduct warfare. They are not warriors; they are a bunch of barbarians and butchers!

I would even argue that the Germanic Star-Empire is an even larger menace to galactic society than the Naraku, because the Naraku are mindless bugs, they act based upon pure biological instinct, while the Germans have proven themselves to be exceptionally intelligent, but absurdly unreasonable! The fact that the current Empress favors them so much is truly a concern for the wellbeing of all interstellar civilizations!"

Upon hearing this perspective, Celestia immediately began to rethink her disposition towards the Germanic Star-Empire, that is, until a member of her own race who was another officer on the bridge scoffed, before voicing his own opinion towards the Germans.

"They're not that bad. I mean, sure, the Germans are highly xenophobic towards other species, but that is pretty much the norm within the galaxy. If I'm being perfectly honest, most of the propaganda which you see come out of the Germanic Star-Empire is similar to what the Alfheim Dominion uses to rally its people.

Luxilles here is just upset that his civilization had been so thoroughly upstaged by the Germanic Star-Empire shortly before the Rylonian Imperium collapsed. If I'm remembering correctly, it was your sense of honor in warfare that led to the last fifty defeats you guys suffered at the hands of the Svartalfheim Federation's proxies.

Say what you want about the Germanic Star-Empire, but to this day they have never been defeated in a war, and most of the time they have fought against civilizations superior to their own. That is why her majesty favors them so much. I mean hell, until roughly a hundred years ago, the weapons which the Germanic Star-Empire used were primarily mass drivers, and other kinetic based weapons.

The fact that the Germanic Star-Empire was able to use such primitive devices to obtain victory against armies armed with far more advanced technology is proof that they are an incredibly valuable vassal, despite only existing as an interstellar civilization for less than half a millennium.

Plus, I'm not going to lie. I replace them to be far more attractive than you glowing freaks. You have to admit; they look quite similar to the average Light Elf, albeit substantially larger. It's almost as if one of the Empress biologically engineered their species from our own genes to be perfectly suitable for combat. I mean, the Asterion Dynasty is renowned for their white hair and golden eyes, but the most common phenotype which our species has is golden blonde hair, and blue eyes, just like the Germans."

The Rylonian Officer whose name was Luxillies did not make a comment in response to the Light Elven officer's remarks. He simply scowled and remained silent. As for Celestia, she did not know whose perspective she should take to heart, and thus decided after this mission was over, that she would do a bit more research on the history of the Germanic Star-Empire who appeared to have a bright future ahead of them, assuming they somehow managed to survive the onslaught of the Naraku Hive Fleet Terminus.

While Celestia was thinking about this subject, the sensors on board her mega carrier detected movement into the star system, which acted as the primary access point at the border between the western and eastern quadrants. To which she was quick to give an order to her fleet.

"Raise the shields and prepare for combat. It looks like those dark-skinned mongrels have decided to invade our borders after all!"

The officers onboard the bridge quickly did as commanded, as the Alfheim Fleet began to scramble its fighters into space in preparation for the upcoming battle. However, just when they were about to open fire on those who would intrude upon their borders, something interesting happened. A hailing frequency reached out to Celestia's ship, to which she begrudgingly accepted.

On the holographic projection was a figure of a very small humanoid. By human standards, it would be considered a dwarf. The creature had long and pointy ears which drooped to the side and a hooked nose. He was incredibly fat for his size, and was dressed in rather luxurious attire. His dark beady eyes gazed upon Celestia's heavenly figure with a bit of lust within them, as his sharp teeth curved into a toothy smile before introducing himself to the Light Elven Princess.

"Greetings your highness, I am Trade Prince Bixle Goldentooth of the Ghimderi Trade Union. I have been requested by representatives of both the Alfheim Dominion and the Svartalfheim Federation to mediate in the dispute between your two civilizations. If it is alright with you, I would like to get the Svartalfheim Federation's Admiral on the line to negotiate an end to the hostilities which are clearly escalating between the both of you."

Celestia scowled when she saw the hideous goblinoid creature. She despised the Ghimderi race almost as much as the Dark Elves. They were a bunch of greedy merchants and bankers who had gained their fortune by infiltrating and swindling every interstellar civilization they came across. In fact, for a long time, the Ghimderi did not even have their own homeworld, until they used their wealth to bribe one of the sub-galactic powers to conquer an occupied world for them, which they then proceeded to spend the next few centuries ethically cleansing the locals.

It had been millions of years since then, and currently, the Ghimderi Trade Union effectively controlled the galactic economy. And while many civilizations considered it a mark of pride to host their banks and corporations within their borders, some, like the Germanic Star-Empire, refused to do so.

Most of these civilizations were wiped out via the influence the Ghimderi Trade Union had over the galaxy and its many players. However, despite their best attempts to force the Germanic race into capitulation, the protection which Empress Lunaria Asterion of the Alfheim Dominion afforded her favorite war hounds, prevented the various Trade Princes from infiltrating, and subverting Germanic society, like they had done to so many others.s

Perhaps her mothers constant complains about the Ghimderi Trade Union had affected her views, but Celestia hated the Ghimderi race with a passion. Unfortunately Lunaria had been forced to reach out these pathetic little runts in order to avoid an all out war with the Svartalfheim dominion, and thus Celestia could only sigh, and accept the bastard's request. Almost immediately after silently nodding her head, a dark elf's holographic projection appeared on the command bridge of Celestia's carrier alongside the Ghimerdi Trade prince, who had a smug expression on his face as he spoke to Celestia as if she were a mere child.

"Did that old hag seriously send a little girl to protect her borders? My oh my, she must be going senile if she thinks it is a good idea to send you of all people to this battlefield…"

Just when Celestia was about to respond to this insult, Bixle shook his head and clicked his tongue in displeasure before shutting down the Dark Elf Admiral.

'Tsk…Tsk…Tsk… Chronarius, that is entirely inappropriate for a discussion about decreasing hostilities. I will give you one warning before I contact my merchant fleet and discuss with them whether or not sanctions against the Svartalfheim Federation are in order…"

The idea of receiving economic sanctions from a Trade Prince of the Ghimderi Trade Union was enough to instantly silence the Admiral of the Federation's fleet, and force him to apologize for his words.

"I am sorry, Mr. Goldentooth. My words were an insult to you as our mediator, and I promise to keep such remarks to myself during the future of these discussions."

Bixle's mouth curved into a disgusting smile, as he nodded his head in approval of Chronarius' submission, before shifting his focus back to Celestia, who was watching the exchange between the two men with a disturbed expression on her otherwise flawless face. Though the Trade Prince did not comment on this, and instead spoke with an excited look in his beady eyes.

"Now, where to begin…"