Interstellar Age

After being assaulted on the train, and detained by the authorities for questioning, a harsh sentence was given to the man who had attacked Erich. Though the silver-haired lad was a mutant, he was still protected by the law in such a blatant and open case of assault. Thus, the brute of a cadet was expelled from the Naval academy. However, his punishment was not as severe as it would normally be, specifically because Erich was a mutant.

Rather than serve the rest of his mandatory military service in a penal battalion, where he would wage war against the Empire's worst enemies, without all the equipment that Star Marine would have to protect himself. The brute was sent into the Corps as an enlisted soldier, and though this had effectively killed any chance he might have at making a career out of politics, it did not bar him from any great feats in the civilian sector later in life.

Still, Erich was fine, just knowing that he had ruined the man's chance of ever becoming a planetary governor, not that an impulsive and violent thug like him would ever make it far in the Empire's politics.

The Germanic Star Empire was an absolute meritocracy, where only those with the skill, intelligence, and knowhow managed to get far in life, regardless of their age, one could easily rise through the ranks of the Empire if they were exceptional enough.

Just look at Erich's father, Heinrich. The man was in his early forties, which was still considered being barely an adult by the standards of the Empire, who had an average lifespan of two hundred and fifty years, and yet he was already a sector governor. This had not happened because the man knew the right people, or was born into a powerful family, but because he performed exceptionally on the battlefield as a Naval Officer.

His feats were so extraordinary, that after spending a few months in office as a planetary governor he was promoted to the position of a system governor, and after two years fulfilling that role, he became a sector governor, replacing the man who was previously in his position, who had proven to be inferior to Heinrich.

That was how the Germanic Star Empire functioned, the most fitting man got the job, while the rest served loyally, and fearfully. Now cases like Heinrich were extremely rare, and most men spent decades of their life, if not over a century climbing to such a lofty position, if they could reach it at all.

However criminals were treated with a unique disdain by the party, they were hated even Moreso than mutants. If one had a criminal record, they could never serve in the office of politics.

After dressing in his military uniform, and cleaning himself up a little, Erich departed from his barracks and entered his first classroom at the academy, whose seats were almost entirely empty. The only people who were currently taking classes on campus were the mutants, who did not get the three-month break that everyone else had in the summer.

While this made it so the mutants could graduate earlier, it was not treated with pride, but rather ridicule and contempt by their peers. Because they were not able to sire a family. Erich immediately noticed that the mutants in the class were not that much distant from the baseline Germanic male. Most of them simply had unique eye and hair colors, much like himself.

All serious mutations like those that would change the pigment of one's skin, or perhaps those that would add a third eye, or a tail, or any number of bizarre features, were deemed fit for termination upon birth, and the infant child who displayed these genetic abnormalities would be euthanized and cremated.

There were perhaps twenty other mutant cadets in this class. Which when one considered the fact that the Academy had a few million students, it just proved how rare mutants were in society. Your average citizen of the Empire could spend their entire life without ever coming across one.

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After hearing a bit of murmuring coming from his classmates, Erich took his seat. Clearly they were wondering why he was absent yesterday, and this morning. But it's not like he could tell them that he was banging an Oni diplomat. If word ever got out about that, Erich was as good as dead.

Thus, he let their imaginations run wild, as he waited for the instructor to enter the class. The professor wore a grey military uniform with red accents, and a black undershirt, with a matching tie. This was the standard dress uniform of the Imperial Navy, one which the man wore with pride as he entered the class with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

With cancer being a disease which the Germanic Star-Empire discovered a cure for long ago, practically every man smoke in the empire to take the edge off of their daily lives. Unlike alcohol and other drugs, tobacco did not hinder one's performance in life, and was thus used heavily by soldiers who had seen the worst the galaxy had to offer.

In fact, it was one of two drugs which were legally permitted for use in the Empire. And while tobacco was legal, even in the civilian sector, adrenal stimulants were only prescribed to soldiers in the field.

After finishing the last drag on his cigarette, the instructor looked upon his newcomer and introduced himself with a wry smile on his rugged face.

"I see our absent cadet has finally decided to grace us with his presence. Believe me, I am already well aware of the circumstances that prevented you from attending my course yesterday. I have also been informed not to discuss the details of such a delicate matter, and thus I will keep my mouth shut. So the rest of you little mutants don't even bother asking me!

For those of you, who are either just arriving, or did not pay attention yesterday, I will repeat myself just this once. I am Commander Vernik Ekberg, a retired Naval Officer, and your instructor in Galactic Politics.

It is my duty to inform each and every one of you, on which of the alien species are friendly towards our esteemed race, and which are hostile. As for everyone else, they have simply been categorized as "to be determined" for in the eyes of the Empire, you are either an ally or an enemy. There is no such thing as neutrality. Now, before I start on today's lecture, who here can tell me about humanity?"

The class of mutants began to discuss amongst themselves the topic at hand, and upon seeing that nobody had the answer to such a simple question, Erich raised his hand, which was immediately called out by Colonel Ekberg.

"Ah yes, Mr. Jaeger is it? Go ahead, enlighten me on what you know."

Erich looked around at the eyes of all his classmates who were set upon him and gulped down the saliva that had been pooling in his mouth before answering the question to the best of his ability.

"Humanity, Humans, or, if you want to be archaic, mankind, is the previous evolution of the Germanic Race, it is the species which we evolved from on planet Earth, before the great exodus which led our ancestors to Germania.

From my understanding, there were once several sub-species of humanity, all of which competed for land and resources in the old world. As our ancestors began to be overwhelmed by the inferior stock of the other subspecies who had outnumbered us quite significantly, we fled to the stars to escape the death of our race and culture. In doing so, we determined our own course of evolution. Which has led our people to greatness.

Meanwhile, humanity still endures in some form, albeit as a shadow of their former selves. Without our people to uplift the other subspecies, they used the warp drive that we invented to settle a handful of planets. During the last four centuries the humans have failed to not only evolve biologically due to their misplaced hatred of eugenics, and genetic alteration, but have barely managed to advance technologically.

According to our most recent data on the so called Confederation of Human Worlds in the centuries since our departure, they have melded together into a single species, after centuries of the various subspecies interbreeding. One that is biologically inferior to the Germanic race in every aspect."

For a second, Erich thought he saw a smile etch itself upon the grizzled veteran's rugged face. However, it appeared to have vanished just as quickly as it had occurred, leading Erich to believe that perhaps he was seeing things.

After taking a long swig from his coffee, Colonel Ekberg nodded his head and applauded Erich's answer, which was straight out of the Empire's propaganda. After doing so, he added onto information about the Confederation of Human Worlds.

"Correct… Now, I suppose you must be wondering if we are superior to this archaic offshoot that can not even be considered the same species as our esteemed race. Then you must be wondering why we have not reclaimed Earth by now? Surely we have the power to do so!"

Erich nodded his head in agreement with the instructor's statement. The answer to this question had eluded him for quite some time. After a brief pause, Colonel Ekberg activated a hologram, which displayed four unique looking races. One of which Erich immediately recognized as the Light Elves who ruled over this quadrant of the galaxy.

Upon seeing that his students were interested in the topic at hand, Colonel Ekberg pointed to the four races and began his lecture in galactic politics.

"If one wants to know the answer to this question, they must first understand galactic politics. These are the four major galactic powers in the Milky Way Galaxy. Even the dumbest among our race knows who the light elves are, for which we are a vassal of their mighty empire. However, how many of you know what these other three races are?"

Even Erich, who was quite knowledgeable about most subjects, did not know the names of the other four major galactic powers, only that they wielded military and economic strength on par with the Alfheim Dominion. Apparently, neither did any of the other cadets, because they all scratched their heads like a bunch of fools.

Seeing that nobody knew the answer to this question, Colonel Ekberg sighed heavily before continuing with his lecture.

"The Alfheim Dominion, the Asura Cabal, the Svartalfheim Federation, and the Ennead Theocracy — these are the four major galactic players. All of which, as you may have guessed from their names, once visited earth during the distant past.

While the Alfheim Dominion rules over our quadrant of the galaxy, the Svartalheim Federation, or the Dark Elves rule over the territory where the Confederation of Human Planets lies. The two factions have been at odds since their two races split apart eons ago.

After our rise to prominence, and the wars we have won on behalf of the Alfheim Dominion, the Dark Elves sought out a way to spite their rivals. And because they could not directly attack the Alfheim Dominion, due to the influence of the Ghimderi Trade Union who act as a mediator between the four major galactic powers, the damned Dark Elves decided to spite us, the greatest weapon that the Light Elves have in their proxy wars.

During their research into our history, the Dark Elves came across the fact that we are the descendants of Earth, and in doing so, declared the fledgling Confederation of Human Worlds under their protection. That is why we can not invade the Confederation and reclaim our homeland!

Now that is enough for today's lecture. Tomorrow, I will begin instruction about the scale on which interstellar civilizations are rated. I expect you all to remember this information for your upcoming exams."

Shortly after saying this, the bell rang, freeing Erich up for the rest of his daily classes. Though the lecture was brief, he had learned a great deal about the greater galaxy, and the major players who controlled everything in the milky way. Much of this knowledge was not taught outside of the military academies, and thus, Erich had learned something quite valuable.