-We have an incoming ship.
Lan announced as Andrew and everyone else were trying to figure out a way to stop the enemy fleet from clearing out a whole sector of the Milky Way galaxy.
-Who is it?
Andrew asked.
-It's Terelen, or at least that's his transponder signal, but the ship is a cruiser class.
The geologist said.
-That's understanding, considering the mess this universe is at the moment.
Runir commented.
-We are being hailed.
-On-screen.
-Hello Andrew, it's good to see you.
The elf smiled as soon as he saw the human in good health.
-Welcome Terelen, it's good to see you, But I thought that you wouldn't be able to come until after the whole invasion thing is over.
-About that, there have been some changes that we need to talk about, preferably face to face.
-Yeah, actually your arrival might be a blessing for us since we have a problem I think you might be able to help us with.
Andrew said after a moment of thought.
-If I can be of any assistance, I'll do whatever is in my power to help.
The elf replied.
-Good, we'll discuss everything once you arrive.
-See you shortly my friend.
The elf replied, ending the communications.
-What are you thinking about?
Arien asked, over the comms, as she heard the whole conversation.
-If the enemy wants to remain unseen, then our best bet is to reveal them to everyone if we want to stop them.
Terelen is a merchant and a part of the merchant guild, so if he exposes them with proof of their activities, they might need to stop stripping the resources and leave, or the other powers might get involved.
-Which is most likely the last thing they want.
Tarina said when she caught up to his train of thought.
-Additionally, we can tell him about establishing our star nation, while we're at it.
Aelita chimed in.
-That too.
The human nodded.
It didn't take long for the merchant to arrive, since his new ship was much faster than the previous one.
Andrew, Tanira, and Aelita greeted him as he was disembarking.
-This is one impressive installation you have here.
The elf said as he approached them.
-And you have one impressive ship.
Andrew returned the compliment.
-It's not only me, all the merchants upgraded to cruisers since this universe is getting more and more dangerous.
To be honest, I only got permission to come here once you eliminated all the invasion forces in the vicinity.
Without that, I would not have gotten clearance for doing so.
Terelen explained.
-Anyway, you mentioned something about requiring my help.
-Right this way, you need to see this.
Andrew said and took his guest to the command center.
-These idiots never learn.
The elf commented once he saw what was going on.
-This is not the first time they have done that, and they have been warned, once they were caught, since then they have been making sure to not get caught in the act or leave any evidence of their presence.
-Who are they?
Sarill asked.
-They are known as Kinokians, a race of fungonoids.
Their domain consists of over five galaxies, which they managed to overrun, thanks to their extreme propagation rates.
However, their greatest strength, is also their greatest weakness, as they go through resources extremely fast, so they are constantly looking for more.
The worst part is that, if they land on a planet, they will take it over, it's only a matter of time and the only time this was prevented that I know of was when the whole planet was glassed from orbit.
-Then how do we stop them?
Runir asked, horrified at what she just heard.
-You can't, not with what you have at your disposal.
The elf shook his head.
-I'm guessing you fought them already, so you might have noticed that they don't care about casualties or losses.
All they care about is achieving their goals.
-Fortunately, you don't need to deal with them, they were warned not to do this again, and they have a lot of enemies, who won't be happy when they hear about it.
If you send a copy of this data to my ship, I'll make sure they leave.
-Vulcan send the data, please.
Andrew said.
-Already sent.
The AI replied.
Hearing that Terelen took out his tablet and sent a short message to the merchant's guild with the data attached.
-This should do it.
He said once he received the notification that the message was received.
-That was faster than I thought.
Andrew commented.
-It's always like that when you know which strings to pull, and it also helps that you deliver a tone of evidence.
The merchant smiled.
-Now if you don't mind, I would like to hear the whole story about this shipyard and the wormhole to another galaxy.
The human had no problem with sharing this information, especially since he and the elf could be considered friends.
Terelen heard the whole story, not interrupting even for a moment, until the end.
-You sure have a knack for getting into trouble.
He finally commented, once Andrew finished.
-It seems so, and there is more coming.
The human didn't bother denying it.
-Let me hear it, you shocked me so much during the last few minutes, that I don't think anything can surprise me at this point.
The elf said, hoping for it to be the truth.
-We decided to form our own empire, so we need to renounce our noble titles.
Andrew decided to drop the bombshell.
-I don't see the connection there.
Terelen said a bit puzzled.
-What do you mean?
The human asked, seeing that this information didn't even faze the elf.
-You can establish your kingdom, empire, or whatever you want to call it, but you don't need to renounce your titles to do so.
The emperor should have mentioned it in his letter and the data you received later.
As the non-Elf noble, you can establish your star nation, without the need to lose your titles.
The same goes for Aelita.
What's more, you can request an alliance with the empire once your star nation is established, and open formal diplomatic relations with the empire.
Everyone looked at the elf in shock.
Then Aelita read through the data she received from the elven empire.
-He's right, it's here, we simply forgot about it.
She said with an embarrassed expression.
They managed to make fools of themselves, over nothing.
-Considering what you have been through lately, no one will blame you for overlooking this.
The elf stated seeing how embarrassed Andrew and Aelita were.
-Moreover, I think the Emperor will be happy with your decision, and you will avoid a lot of pressure from the court since you will become a monarch yourself…
-The Kinokians are retreating.
Lan interrupted him as the elf was going to say something more.
-That was fast, I thought it would take at least half a day for them to be recalled.
Terelen said while checking his tablet which just received a ping of an incoming message.
-What do you know?
We didn't need to do anything, and they still would have left.
It turns out that one of their enemies just launched an attack on their territory and the fleet that was here, was originally a defensive fleet from that territory.
The Elf said as everyone watched as more and more Kinokan vessels entered the sensor range and went full burn for the Jump gate, leading to their universe.
-But thanks to the information I sent to the guild, their enemies are now thankful to the guild for notifying them of this and there seem to be another two factions that are preparing to attack the Kinokan territory.
-At least they are leaving our universe, but now we need to move fast before someone else decides to capitalize on their retreat.
Andrew said and began issuing orders.
He was not about to waste this chance to expand his territory into the Milky Way galaxy, and his sights were turned on the Sol system as the main objective.