Chapter 627 627 The Eclipse
"Lord Drakon actually came here yesterday," Aldred said.
"What?" Everyone was shocked. Why would a noble-class individual visit Aldred?
"What did he want?" Salamander asked.
"Me," Aldred said before revealing a piece of paper.
Cleome widened his eyes in shock when she saw that piece of paper. "This... I've seen this kind of paper before when the commander sign it, everything on the planet changed, like billions of credits worth of equipment kept coming in for years the day after the agreement.
Since that day, Cleome had never seen a piece of paper like this anymore. Paper were rarely used for official administration anymore since it was inefficient.
"From what I have read," Salamander started. "This kind of paper is only used for massive transactions or agreements that put a world or multiple worlds at stake. Millions of lives could be affected."
Aldred nodded. "I can see that. Elralya, why is your face pale?"
Elralya's body was frozen still while her eyes locked at the paper. She did not respond as if she was a statue. A second later, she closed her eyes and fell unconscious.
Shinari caught her before she hit the floor. "What happened to her? Her breathing slowed down!"
Salamander sighed. "I didn't expect her reaction to be that severe."
"Do you know anything about this?" Aldred asked.
"Actually, the only official paper used by the Imperium is crafted using the skin of elves."
Aldred's eyes widened in shock. No wonder they thought it was so normal to kill each other. Using the skin of another races for a piece of paper was very similar to how the human on Earth killed bear or lion and used their skin as a rug.
He finally understood their true perspective. Both sides thought each other as animals.
The brutality of such thought dawned upon him.
If Aldred wanted peace among the two races, he would have to erase decades of animosity. That was nothing except an impossible task.
"The hatred on the elves aren't that strong in this corner of the galaxy," Salamander said. "If not for that, it wouldn't take long for you to see the atrocities both sides did to each other."
"Why is the hatred not so strong around here?"
"The elves' territories are far from here. Most worlds here fought against demons, and one of the big player is Lord Malgorth."
Aldred still not understood much about the galactic landscape of this galaxy. He was thankful that Salamander was so knowledgeable and could teach him stuff.
"How do you know all this?" Aldred asked.
Shinari stepped forward and answered for him. "Salamander has always been the most knowledgeable in our team. While we focus on training, he learned things like science, politics, war, and strategy. I don't really like to read about that kind of stuff before, but I am starting to take interest."
She did not know that those knowledge would be useful at all in the future. Shinari thought Salamander was wasting time by reading about those things.
"The material this piece of paper made out of is shocking, but I want you to read its content." Aldred showed them the text.
Salamander grabbed it and took a closer look. When he read the first paragraph, he was so in disbelief he decided to reread a couple of times until he was sure. "This... I don't know if this is a good thing or not."
"What is it?" Cleome grabbed the paper and read it with Shinari.
After a few minutes, they finally understood the situation.
"What should we do?" Aldred asked. "To be honest with you guys, I really don't like this Drakon guy, but the contract he offered is very enticing. If we accept it, we would get a massive head start. The wealth and riches of 10 worlds will be in our hands in an instant. Imagine how many armies and battleships we could build with that."
"But slavery... I didn't know we still had slavery in this age..." Cleome was in disbelief. How could the Imperium let this happen. Not just anyone, but a noble of the Imperium blatantly offered Aldred over 30,000 slaves to entice him to sign this contract.
The noble treated another human being like objects or animals. Just like how other races treated them...
Cleome's knees weakened and she fell to the floor still in disbelief. The greatness of the Imperium, the mighty power and resilience of its people shattered in her mind. Now it was filled with distrust and paranoia.
Everything she heard and saw in the Galactic Net was a lie. A great lie!
"I've already expected this," Salamander said. "I should have told you about it sooner."
"You know there are human slaves?" Cleome asked.
Salamander nodded. "I have studied the history texts of human kind from the prehistoric era. And if I have to conclude humankind in the shortest way possible is: human aren't that nice, even to each other."
Sighing, Salamander continued: "Even since ancient times, people in the position of power always tried to control the opinion of the masses by withholding or manipulating information. So, I am not surprised. History always repeat itself. It is a curse that no matter how powerful and advanced human have become, they will never able to break free of it."
"In that case, I will be the one who break that curse, starting by killing the baron!" Cleome stood up and was about to rush outside until Salamander grabbed his hand.
"That's suicide."
Cleome intensely looked at him in the eye. "Aren't we warriors? If my death can save over 30,000 people won't my demise be honored?"
"Killing that baron is like replacing a stone with another stone. Every noble figure has a group of family and dozens if not hundreds of candidates ready to replace them. Killing one usually result in a much more bigger problem."
Cleome gritted her teeth. "Why is the Emperor let this happen? Isn't he watching over us. Isn't he suppose to protect us?"
Salamander patted her on the shoulder. "Even the gods have limit."
"So what should we do?" Aldred asked.
They all went silent. None of them knew what to do in this situation. Accepting the contract would earn them incredible wealth, but that also meant working for a tyrant that blatantly treated humans like objects.
Suddenly, the strange man gasped in shock as he woke up from his coma.
"You wake up," Aldred said.
Shinari handed him a glass of water. "Drink this. You need."
The stranger consumed the glass of water in a single gulp before he put the glass down and intently stared at them.
"I need your help, mister Aldred." The strange man spoke with much better clarity now as if his mind had cleared.
"Is your family among the slaves?"
The man nodded. "But, I wouldn't ask for help if it just merely about my family."
Aldred was quite surprised. What could be much more important than a man's own family? "Are you thinking about your friends?"
The man shook his head. "Not just that. It is something much bigger. If you do not solve this issue, it will become a massive catastrophe that might even affect entire star cluster."
Frowning, Aldred asked what kind of problem would affect such a massive area. "What is it?"
"The Eclipse," the stranger said, stressing the last word.
Aldred did not understand the meaning, but then Salamander gasped in shock.
"Impossible." Salamander trembled. "Are you certain about this?"
The stranger nodded. "I am certain. No one else would believe my words, but that is exactly what the Eclipse is about."
"What is it? I don't understand." Aldred didn't know what they were talking about.n-(o-)V))E.-l).b.(1--n
"The Eclipse is a catastrophic event caused by the Xenomorph. In summary, it is a full invasion of a planet."
"Just like the Abyssal Onslaught?"
"Yes, but this is much more dangerous and deadlier than that. In fact, the Abyssal Onslaught paled in comparison. Usually, once the government noticed about the Eclipse it's too late to save the planet."
"Just what is it exactly? Explain it to me."
"Me too. I want to know," Cleome said.
Salamander pressed a bunch of buttons on his comms and projected a screen of a planet.
"I am sure all of you know how Abyssal Onslaught works. The demons directed massive amount of demonic energy towards a planet, turning thousands of human into possessed maniac that killed each other, creating chaos within societies before deploying their armies."
They all nodded as they watched the demons pouring down on the planet from the battleships.
"The Eclipse worked a little differently, but the difference changed everything."
The screen changed into another planet without chaos.
"After the Xenomorph infiltration a few days ago, I am sure you all know that Xenomorph can transform into human."
Nodding, Aldred commented: "But their presence can still be detected. Their disguise are not perfect."
"That's correct, but in this case, they are perfect."
Salamander pressed his comms one more time before hundreds of thousands of human suddenly turned into vicious Xenomorph and started to kill each other and destroyed facilities.
A mother that was kissing her baby suddenly grew sharp hideous claws and shredded her own baby to shreds.
A man who was all smile while attending to his girlfriend during dinner suddenly lashed out with spiky tongue that penetrated the girl's throat.
This kind of scenes repeated all over the planet, with almost half of humanity turned into monsters and killed every human in sight.
Helicopters, planes suddenly crashed and exploded all over the planet. Electricity shut down almost immediately and monsters roamed all over the planet, roaring into the sky.
A particular Xenomorph stood at the highest point of the planet with the other aliens seemingly consider him as their leader.
Its head pulsated with strange light as it stared towards the sky, and then suddenly, light of the sun was covered.
The entire planet slowly engulfed in darkness as Enormous bio-organic ships, shaped like monstrous insects, emerge from the darkness between stars. Their hulls glisten with an oily sheen, and a palpable sense of dread emanates from their very presence. Thousands of bioforms, from the agile and deadly Hive Tyrants to the countless rippling Gaunts, stir within the gargantuan vessels.
Salamander turned off the screen. "And that event is called the Eclipse."
