Interstellar Age
Chapter 369 Transformation

Daelia did not have to wait long, the preparations for her transformation were made rather quickly. Although Sinaria had warned the ancient Shadow Queen about the dangers with her rather reckless plan to personally infiltrate the Germanic Star-Empire. She had proceeded regardless.

The reason for this was actually quite simple. Unlike Lunaria, Daelia was growing increasingly bored with her situation in life. It had been eons since she and Lunaria had helped establish the current galactic hiearchy, and during this time both female monarchs had ruled over their respective domains.

One openly as an Empress, and the other in the shadows as a silent and hidden dictator. But when one lived as long as Daelia had they ran the risk of growing incredibly weary with the current galactic affairs.

To her it was the same old shit that had been going on since the fall of the Elven Empire. Proxy wars... Nothing but Proxy wars fought to determine who was the major player among the four or five galactic powers.

These proxies had often destroyed themselves in the name of fighting for their masters. And if they did not, then their suzerains would make sure they never advanced to the state of Galactic Power, no matter how loyal of a servant they may be.

But for the first time in as long as Daelia could remember. An upstart state had appeared. Merely five centuries old, and with dubious origins. Yet it was on the verge of challenging the delicate balance that she had worked tirelessly to create over the past few millions of years.

This was a genuinely interesting prospect.... And because she was so incredibly bored with her daily routine. Daelia jumped at the first opportunity to personally investigate this matter. How had the Germanic Star-Empire leaped in technology so quickly?

No doubt they had been given many privileges in secret by Lunaria over the past five hundred years. But to jump from where they were to where they are now. All in the span of five years? Something must have changed, something that Lunaria clearly did not know about. Even if she pretended like she did.

After all, who knew Lunaria better than herself? The two had been locked in an eternal struggle since the fall of their mother's empire all those eons ago. Yes... That's right, Daelia and Lunaria were sisters. Born of the same parents.

The exact origins of the Dark Elf race were shrouded in obscurity. The Dark Elves claimed one thing, while the Light Elves claimed another. Similar enough to the Germanic Star-Empire and the Confederation of Human Worlds.

In truth... Whatever happened was so long ago, that only Lunaria and Daelia knew the cause of the schism which destroyed the Elven Empire, and forever split the Elven race into two distinctive groups. And while there were minor subraces for both the Light Elves and Dark Elves, at the end of the day, they were still one or the other in the eyes of the galaxy.

If Lunaria was willing to let one of her vassals climb to such heights, without even replaceing out the origin of their powers, then it was truly a suspicious event. Something was terribly wrong within the mind of her sister, and Daelia wanted to replace out what exactly that was.

Thus, she approached a hidden facility on her people's "homeworld" where she laid down in a tube, one that separated her consciousness from her current body, and uploaded it into that of a tank bred Germanic female.

The transfer was instantaneous. As quickly as she had shut her eyes, Daelia opened them in another body, gazing around at the scientists who were sworn to secrecy about this project, and her ultimate plans for it.

Daelia was, of course surprised, when she saw something in her eyes, a user interface of sorts that her people did not normally possess. And was quick to comment on what she saw.

"Nanotechnology? How very interesting... What exactly am I seeing right now?"

The lead scientist was a Dark Elven male, who was currently scanning Daelia's body and mind for any source of irregularities. While he did this, he was quick to comment on her question.

"What you are seeing is what the Germanic Star-Empire refers to as Neurolink. To put it simply, every citizen is injected with trillions of nano robots upon their births. Which regulate their bodily function, give them access to their own private interstellar network, and in many ways are used as a means of identifications.

It does far more than just that, but those are just the basics. For the record, it took us nearly two hundred years to discover the existence of NeuroLink, and another one hundred to replicate it. If not for that spy of ours who unfortunately has gone silent over the last few years, we never would have been able to truly finish the puzzle.

I suppose you have.... What was his code name again? Echo? yes Echo, to thank for all of this? Unfortunately, he has most likely been figured out by now, and executed, which is why we have not heard from him in years."

Daelia was barely listening to the explanation, as her mind seamlessly integrated with the Germanic Star-Empire's interstellar network. How she was receiving a signal half way across the galaxy she did not know. But currently, her mind was being bombarded with scenes taken from the ongoing war between the Germanic Armed Forces and those of the Yokai Ascendency.

It was a one sided slaughter, as the Germanic Navy utterly destroyed the Yokai Ascendency and their fleet, which was not only larger by number of ships but also by sheer tonnage. The smaller, more agile Germanic ships repelled nearly every attack against them, while chewing through the shields of their enemies. It was so astonishing that Daelia could not help but comment on it.

"By the gods... They truly have advanced to the state of a Galactic Power...."

Curious about what the Shadow Queen was seeing, Sinaria, who had been standing by and watching the procedure, was quick to ask about it.

"What? What's happening, my Lady?"

Daelia shook her head, not wanting to reveal just how powerful the Germanic Navy had become, no doubt thanks to the many, many upgrades Tia had made to their existing fleet over the past five years. Instead, she was quick to state the urgency of her mission with a stern expression on her otherwise gorgeous face.

"I'm afraid the situation has become far more urgent. There is not time to waste. Have you secured me a proper identity and transport that will allow me to freely enter the Germanic Star-Empire and uncover their secrets?"

The Scientist, however, sighed heavily and shook his head before explaining the difficulties they had to go through to obtain Daelia's current identity.

"Despite our best attempts, infiltrating the Germanic Star-

Empire's records and adding a false identity has proven to be... Impossible. Their level of cyber security is frightening... And can not be reasonably explained.

We were ultimately forced to kidnap a citizen of the Germanic Star-Empire, one with a high enough security clearance that allowed them to leave its borders. It would appear that their NeuroLink has indeed proven to be a valuable means of counteracting our truth serum. As a result, we were forced to use other means to ascertain the truth.

I must reiterate, if not for Echo's last known transmission, we would have never discovered the existence of NeuroLink or its abilities to counteract our truth serum. Perhaps he knew the end was coming for him and thus sent us the information that would allow us to more easily infiltrate the Empire's borders... Though the man is most likely deceased, he deserves proper honors for his sacrifice..."

Daelia nodded her head while inspecting her new appearance in the mirror. She threw a passing comment in regard to Echo's treasonous acts, that were indeed caused because Erich's revival in this new timeline. After all, Erich immediately warned Hans about Echo's treason, and because of this, the man was hunted for some time before eventually being captured and executed.

It was during his time as a fugitive that he managed to upload the schematics revolving around NeuroLink and send it to his contacts in the Svartalfhiem Federation.

"Very well... As long as this identity allows me to infiltrate the Germanic Star-Empire, then when I return, I will personally see to it that this Echo is granted the most esteemed honors that our nation affords its heroes. He may have been a foreigner, but his sacrifice has been invaluable to our efforts."

With this said, the Svartalfheim Federation was about to make its second major attempt to infiltrate the Germanic Star-

Empire, so it could ascertain the secret origin of the GSE's recent jump in technlogical progress.