It had been another three years since Erich first returned from the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy, and during this time, he had made great progress in his efforts to prepare for a war against Emrys. By now, Emrys had declared Erich to be a full-blown traitor, and had announced his attempt to resist any unlawful rebellion with military force.
Because of this, Erich was forced to establish a government in exile. One which surprisingly quite a few politicians, generals, admirals, and leading officials in the intelligence community supported. After all, Erich's claim to the throne was legitimate. And there were many who believed that the propaganda Emrys was forcing on his people about Erich and the man's goals were complete and utter nonsense.
The formation of the Robotic Legions was kept under strict wraps. After all, as far as Emrys was aware, Erich was living the nomadic lifestyle, waging war across the galaxy with a fleet of warships, in an attempt to unite the Orc clans.
What he did not know was that through Tia, Erich had purchased a single star system on the borders of Imperial Space. Which now acted as the refuge of Erich's Empire-In-Exile. One which Tia had terraformed to meet the needs of Erich's growing ambitions. The system had five planets and two celestial dwarfs that, after being terraformed, were now capable of supporting life.
One planet was designed for industrial use, while another acted as a temporary home for those Germanic Citizens and soldiers who decided to align themselves with Erich. And the smallest of these worlds acted as a training ground for the Parvaxian Insurgents, who were still preparing for their war against the Trade Union.
When the Germanic exiles arrived on Erich's new fortress world, they were amazed at the fact that everything was automated by robots and artificial intelligence, including the planetary defenses. They quickly began to realize that the future Erich offered them was one free of manual labor. And this became a powerful recruitment tool for those Germanic citizens who were struggling to perform the roles in society that the Empire had forced upon them.
As Tia had suggested, Erich had said farewell to his alien lovers. Sending Ayumi back to the Oni homeworld to begin her tutelage beneath her aunt on how to rule over her people. It was a particularly heartbreaking farewell for Erich, because he had to say goodbye to his young daughter Aiko, who since her birth had grown incredibly close to her father and brother. But it was for the greater good of his people, and thus it was a sacrifice that Erich had begrudgingly made.
Erich also sent Mala off with the Iron Horde to begin unifying the remainder of the Orcish clans and Hordes in his name. This was not as heartbreaking of a farewell. Mala was in fact an Orc, and sitting back on this world, for years at a time, without anything or anyone to kill, did not sit well with her or her people. Thus, she was quite happy to wage war against her own kind on behalf of her man.
As for Mirage, she continued to stay by her man's side, helping him build an actual intelligence network by coaxing officers of the IIS and Military Intelligence to defect to his side. Erich was, after all, a legend in the intelligence community for his years of service as a WRAITH, and Mirage was easily able to convince them that the rumors about him being a xenophile, and a race traitor were patently false.
She convinced these agents that Erich had only married Ayumi because Emrys demanded him to do so for the sake of a long-term political alliance with the Great Oni Empire. However, now that Erich had decided to contend for the throne, which was rightfully his, Emrys used this relationship that he forced upon his former protégé as a means of slander.
None of this was really true, but Mirage was quite charismatic, and was an even larger legend in the Germanic intelligence community than Erich. And since Erich had actually sent Ayumi away, not only for her own safety, but so that she could one day become more than just a wife and mother. This was an easy lie for potential defectors to believe.
As for Erika, Erich named her his Empress, and their son Kurt, his Crown Prince. After, of course, declaring himself Emperor of all Germans. Currently, he had dispatched the woman to the world of Alfheim from the Star System, which currently housed his Empire-in Exile, which he named Sunna after the ancient Germanic deity of the sun. This was also a reference to the Sol system, which his people had fled from some four centuries ago.
Thus, Erich also said goodbye to his wife and son, before sending them off to the Alfheim Dominion to seek refuge with Lunaria, and act as the ambassador of his Empire-in-Exile. It truly pained Erich to do all of this, as he now had just Mirage and Tia to rely upon. But, both of them assured him, this was for the best.
After all, without his alien lovers, it was much easier to convince the highly Xenophobic, and Nationalistic Germanic people to defect to Erich's cause. And, of course, Erich needed somebody to keep Lunaria on his side, in case the greater galaxy began to see him as a threat. Thus, all he could do now was keep his focus on this upcoming war, and hope that his loved ones were safe from its reach.
---
On the world of Alfheim Lunaria stared at Erika and her young son with a particularly foul expression on her pretty face. Erika was kneeling before the Elven beauty, while wearing a solid black diplomatic uniform with a black, white, and red sash that mimicked the Flag that Erich had chosen to represent his government in exile.
Both the flag of the GSE and that of the EIE consisted of a black sun, and utilized the same colors of black, white and red. The difference between the two of them was that the banner of the GSE which had existed for centuries resembled that of Nazi Germany's flag from Earth's history, albeit with a black sun in the center instead of a Hakenkreuz.
While the banner of the Erich's Empire-in-Exile had a very different design. Inspired by the Prussian flag of a bygone era, it had a large center red stripe, with a black sun offset to the left side near its center. It then had two small white stripes above and below the red stripe, and a larger black stripe above and below the white stripes.
The uniforms of these ambassadors were also different. With the Germanic Star-Empire favoring a Stone Grey uniform, resembling that of their Naval Uniforms, with a red and gold trim. Meanwhile, the Empire in Exile favored an all black uniform, with a red and gold trim. Both of these two uniforms had armbands which were patterned after their flags.
Erich had based his uniforms off of those worn by the special forces of the Germanic military. After all, he had been assigned to two different SF units during his military career: Black Sun Squadron, and the WRAITHS. And because of this, he had a certain affinity for black instead of stone grey or field grey. As were worn by more standard units of the Germanic Army and Navy.
Emrys' Ambassador was quite offended by this uniform, because it was as if Erich was saying that his Empire-in-Exile was more elite than the actual empire. And he was just about to make an outburst, when Lunaria finally spoke to Erika with an almost hostile tone in her voice.
"So, Erich proclaims himself Emperor of all Germans, and establishes a government in exile, at an undisclosed location. Then he sends his wife as an ambassador to the Alfheim Dominion to apologize on his behalf.
He even sent his young son, the so-called Crown Prince of this Empire-in-Exile. Give me one good reason why I should recognize your status as an ambassador and, in doing so, legitimize this government that your husband has set up?"
Erika did not back down under the pressure of Lunaria's might. After all, she had been informed by Erich before departing for Alfhiem, about the kind of relationship he had with the woman. And though she was not willing to publically disclose this information yet, she knew that Lunaria was angry at her, simply because Erich had left the woman behind to focus on his own ambitions. Thus there was a conceited look on Erika's face, as she spoke to Lunaria with the minimum amount of respect that she was required to.
"With all due respect, your Majesty, Emperor Erich Jaeger, was named as the legitimate successor to the previous Supreme Leader. A man who was stripped of his title due to cowardice and treason. Emrys has no lawful claim to the position, nor the Empire which he currently occupies.
Erich is not asking you to recognize him as the legitimate ruler of the Germanic Star-Empire. He is simply requesting that you afford him the privileges that are given to all other claimants within Dominion space. And in doing so, allow him to continue his efforts to pursue his claims on his own without the interference of other civilizations that may wish to take advantage of his current state."
Lunaria gazed at Erika and the Ambassador of the GSE while debating in her mind who to choose. Regardless of who she supported in this dispute, she would be making an enemy out of one of them. The problem was she still deeply loved Erich, and despite not believing he had a chance to win this war, even with the amazing strides he had made in only five years.
She had no choice but to support the man in what ways she could. And if that meant preventing the rest of Alfheim space from ganging up on him while he amassed his forces, then so be it. With a heavy sigh, Lunaria recognized Erich's claim to the Germanic Star-Empire, and in doing so gave his new Empire-IN-Exile legal protection within her quadrant of space.
"Very well, I will recognize Erich's claim as equally valid as the current Supreme Leader's. With this said, The Empire-In-Exile will be permitted all the rights afforded to a legitimate government within Dominion Space, including the rights to send ambassadors to Alfheim. You and your son are welcome to stay here, Empress Erika Jaeger, and will be afforded proper protection by the Alfheim Royal Guard for the duration of your stay!"
This decision shocked everyone else within the Alfheim Court. And absolutely outraged by the Germanic Ambassador. And just when he was about to say something regarding this issue, another ambassador stepped forward. He was obviously from the Great Oni Empire. Because of this, everyone went quiet, having been curious for some time now who the Oni would side with during this dispute.
"Her Majesty Empress Kondo Yumi would like to voice her support for Emperor Erich Jaeger, and his Empire-In-Exile. I am not permitted to discuss the reasons behind her Majesty's decision, but she vows to provide military and material aid to the Empire-In-Exile if they so request it. Though she has decided that the Great Oni Military will not be taking part in the combat if a war should break out between the two Empires."
With this said, the various interstellar civilizations which paid tribute to the Alfheim Dominion all broke out into murmurs. Drowning out the complaints of the Germanic Ambassador. Many of these diplomats were starting to realize that this was a good chance to gain the favor of a nation that would, in the next few millennia, become a Sub-Galactic Power. There was only one problem: they did not know which side would win this war, or who to pledge their support to.
Thus Erich's Empire-In-Exile had suddenly become targeted by galactic interests, who began to take his claims far more serious.
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