Well, it's efficient I suppose.
I nod as she drags the corpse through the collapsing portal. "Bag him up, then send it to Cranius. Like the others."
Which has got to be doing wonders for his human telepathy and telekinesis research. Between him and Doctor Williams, they've got to be close to being ready to experiment by now. I'm pretty sure that Adam Blake would appreciate anything further they can do for him as well. He still hasn't fully recovered from what the First did to turn him into a telekinetic weapon system.
And Grayven isn't invested enough in Vega, or him specifically, to repair him fully, I take it?
I turn to Sazu, who's keeping Rex entertained with a purple windmill toy while his parents pick a fight with a coterie of villainous mercenaries in Africa.
"Not that I mind, but how many of these should we expect?"
Not that many, I expect. Between the skill and the fervour needed...
"It's hard to be certain." She bends forward as he reaches out for it with one chubby hand. "Based on the demographics of his supporters, the production of psychic warriors capable of generating rifts of that nature -yes, it's shiny isn't it? Yes it is- and how hard my mistress is pressing him, I would be surprised if he could afford to spare more than five assassins."
"And why are they coming one by one? After the first one didn't report back you'd think that he'd get a clue."
"Oh, no." She gives Rex another smile and then turns to face me. "I doubt that he ordered them to come here. Most of his followers simply find my mistress taking me as her consort and lover so profoundly disturbing that it may well be that they are taking the initiative."
Ah. Enthusiastic followers. The most annoying kind. Because they're too eager to please their master, and too dumb to consider the consequences.
"And not talking to each other about it?"
"When you give someone powerful psychic abilities… Something has to give."
So phenomenal mental abilities paired with sub-par mental facilities. No wonder they're too dumb to live.
"Even with Maxima She seems reasonably together."
"Queen Maxima is the first of a new generation, and… She turned out extremely well, but even then there are limitations. She can be quite impatient. I don't think that she's ever finished a book, even one about a topic that should interest her. And I was honestly surprised when she announced her intention to come here to acquire a mate."
Sounds like she's like a kid with ADHD, always focusing on something new and forgetting about it soon after...
"Why?"
"It was an unusually creative idea for her. Her mind excels in dealing with situation which require immediate decisions, but she struggles with long term or abstract planning."
Definitely a kid with ADHD, then.
"That seems like a bit of a flaw."
"Oh, no." She shakes her head. "Her abilities in those fields aren't significantly worse than… Well, than the average human. But for her it seems so slow. She craves the stimulation that comes from combat."
That definitely seems like a flaw.
Yeah, but of a worry...
"Oh, I wanted to ask who your final nomination was."
"For what?"
"When you tried to arrange a mate for her? She told me that once you convinced her that someone with my skill set would be a better co-regent, you tried to show her someone. I've been wondering who it was."
Oh-ho, is that jealousy I detect?
"Oh. A man named Alexander Luthor. He's a extremely wealthy businessman who built an international conglomerate out of.. basically nothing. Intelligent, disciplined, focused and… Hm."
"He sounds as though he would have been a good match."
Depends on how he'd get along with an alien wanting, well, Snu-Snu.
"I don't know. Obviously I didn't know about you when I started suggesting people, but Lex is socially aggressive, and.. assertive in a way which you.. don't appear to be. I had thought that someone who could think like Maxima, but… Apply it to administration rather than combat would be a good match. I didn't have anyone of your personality type on the list until much further down."
"Hm. How much-?" Rex grasps her right forefinger, earning himself another fond smile while she scrolls through articles on her computer with her free hand. "How much did she tell you about Almerac?"
Because I'm betting it would not have worked out with Lex...
"Not a lot."
"My mistress wouldn't want to risk two unknowns. Someone from Earth who shared her warrior outlook would have been acceptable. Someone from Almerac who didn't would be fine. Someone from Earth who thought differently to her, she would have felt obliged to fight for dominance. And if they weren't a warrior, that wouldn't have worked." She suddenly looks… Like she wants me to know that I'm on to her. "What else made you select this 'Alexander Luthor'?"
"He's an ally of mine. I thought it might help our work to tie Almerac and Earth together, economically and militarily."
Ah, Grayven, Acquiring via empowering as usual.
"Our navy is a little bit bigger than yours."
"Even now, class for class, ours are more effective." She raises both eyebrows. "Once we've actually built them."
Heh, boasting of our future capabilites. Not the best way to do it.
"We have three hundred and sixty two orbital docking slips. How many do you have?"
"What, me? Including Tamaran, about two hundred. But Earth probably won't build them. Their technology is too advanced to have purely space ships. Even the Starseeker can switch between atmosphere and interplanetary flight without any difficulty and that thing's forty years old. Your ships can't do that."
Multi-role ship design for the win.
And that's not even starting on the advantages the luminal drive has over the telekinetic space-warping system they use. The Earth Defence Force's cruisers will be able to dance around anything Almerac could throw at them… Once we've built them. Because unfortunately putting a luminal drive on a planet is somewhat cost-prohibitive, and right now the Almerac navy could just rush Earth. And will be able to even once the first flotilla is finished.
"True. If the alliance could have been made to work, it would have benefited both of us. But I don't believe that it could."
Yeah, Almeracians sound a bit stupid, in a focused way. Honour Before Reason, and all that.
"No?"
"Our warrior class wouldn't have accepted an alliance between our peoples any more than they have accepted my marriage to my mistress. They would have seen the people of Earth as too weak to treat with as equals, no matter the power of your technology."
"I suppose that when all you have is a hammer…" I frown. "Wait. You're not here just to keep you safe-?"
Why do one thing when you could do two? Or four? Multi-tasking is probably easy for her.
"Of course not." She smiles pleasantly. "Maxima rules Almerac. I govern Almerac, and that includes making alliances with other spacefaring species."
"And?"
"If you're successful, your people will certainly be worth our time. But if some greater power stamps on you before you are ready, Almerac will be happy to offer the survivors sanctuary. The handful of you who are meaningfully contributing to Earth's advancement would make excellent additions to our empire. You're right; our fleet has become rather moribund. We've focused too much on breeding better warriors and not enough on paradigm shifting technology. We create breeding lines based on what we need now, not based on what we will need tomorrow."
The drawback of specialisation.
"And you're fixing that."
"I'm trying to. I'm part of the old paradigm myself." She lays a hand on her stomach. "But Maxima Junior is something new. She has traits we don't usually put in warriors. We were inspired by you, actually."
As long as she doesn't turn out big, gray and bulky...
"How so?"
"You can fight and you can plan. We've always made them separate roles, but the way you combine them makes you better at both." She looks up at the clear sky for a moment. "Oh, they're nearly here."
"Who are?"
"The actual assassins. They're coming by ship."
(
Cut line about interdiction) I'm sure it won't take much effort to deal with them, if they're anything like the enthusiasts earlier...
