Intergalactic conquest with an AI

Carlos turned to him while grinning. "Stop being a crybaby and man up, Rex. Especially now that you just conquered a goddamn world!"

He downed the rest of his beer and smacked Rex on the back. "Anyway, I'll be counting on you to send my kid to the best damn school in your domain!"

Rex let out a dry chuckle. "Yeah, yeah. Just don't expect free tuition."

Carlos let out a loud laugh. "Asshole."

The city hummed below them like a silent witness to their rise.

The heavy doors of the meeting chamber hissed shut behind Rex and Carlos. The room was already filled with Cleo at the head of the table, Zynaria standing like a statue behind her, and the defeated world's administrators seated stiffly in their chairs.

At the center, the little girl clutched the edge of the table, her knuckles white.

Cleo rose, her holographic displays flickering to life. "Now that we're all here—"

Rex's hand landed on her shoulder, gently but firmly pressing her back into her seat.

"I'll take this one, my lovely wife." His voice was calm, almost playful, but his eyes were cold as they swept the room. He lingered on the little girl. She didn't flinch, but her gaze dropped to the polished tabletop.

"The usual playbook after conquering a world is simple," Rex continued while circling the table like a predator. "Execute the old rulers. Enslave the populace. Strip the planet bare for profit." He paused behind the little girl's chair. "But I'm not interested in usual.'"

A murmur rippled through the administrators but Rex ignored them.

"Here's my offer: You keep your titles. Your lives. Even most of your luxuries. But 80% of this world's income now flows to us."

He tapped a finger on the little girl's shoulder. "In return? We turn this backwater into something worth ruling. Drones. Troops. Shipyards. Security so tight even the Nexum wouldn't bother glancing this way."

The little girl finally looked up. "And how do we know you won't just bleed us dry and leave?"

Rex smirked. "Because a corpse can't pay taxes."

Carlos leaned forward while putting his elbows on the table. "What if the Nexum does come knocking? We're pouring resources into a world on their doorstep."

Cleo flicked her wrist. A holographic star map erupted above the table.

Cleo's fingers danced across the holographic interface, causing the star map to zoom out dramatically.

The Nexum Empire's territory burned crimson across the display, their central systems pulsing like an angry heart. Their newly conquered world blinked blue at the very edge, a lonely outpost in the vast interstellar gulf.

"The risk is negligible," Cleo stated, her voice carrying the weight of centuries of strategic analysis.

"This world has always been expendable to them... a border colony they only remember when they need cannon fodder for their wars." She highlighted several flashing red dots along the frontier.

"Pirate warlords raid these sectors monthly, and the Nexum haven't bothered to respond in over a decade."

The hologram shifted to show comparative fleet movements, with Nexum armadas consistently clustering around their core worlds. Rex studied the patterns with a commander's eye before nodding.

"Exactly as Cleo said," he affirmed while straightening his posture.

"With two worlds under our banner now, our economic base will expand exponentially." His gaze grew more intense as he leaned forward.

"But here's the crucial difference... our Oceanic world is pure Kaelzar territory. Automated defenses, loyal forces, no political complications."

He paused meaningfully before continuing, "Every new world we take from here will be different. Each will have its own mix of species, factions, and competing loyalties." Rex's eyes flicked to Cleo, passing her the verbal baton with a nearly imperceptible tilt of his head.

Cleo seamlessly picked up the thread, her voice dropping to a more ominous register. "Which presents our most immediate challenge..." The hologram changed again, now showing population statistics and ethnic distributions across their new territory.

"How do we maintain control over a dozen different races who've known nothing but Nexum oppression or worse, complete neglect?"

The administrators shifted uncomfortably in their seats. The little girl finally lifted her eyes from the table, a spark of something unreadable flashing in their depths.

The girl's whisper cut through the tension like a knife. "By... showing them a new path?" Her voice trembled, but her eyes held a spark of something Rex hadn't seen before, it was not fear, but cautious hope.

Rex's smile widened, revealing just a hint of fang. "Exactly." He spread his hands like an evangelist preaching to converts.

"Race? Origin? Meaningless. Credits talk louder than bloodlines." His armored boots clicked against the marble floor as he paced. "This world's fertile belts could feed entire sectors. We'll put millions to work and they will be too busy earning good wages to dream of rebellion."

The holographic display shifted to show agricultural projections, yields tripling under Kaelzar farming tech. One administrator gasped at the numbers.

"But make no mistake," Rex's voice turned to ice as he stopped abruptly. "Our investment comes with ironclad rules." The display changed to show a planet under military lockdown.

"Private armies will be treated as treason. Not just the perpetrators will be wiped out, but their whole bloodlines will be erased." His gauntlet clenched with a hydraulic whine.

"And before you think of fleeing..." The star map reappeared with kill zones marked in crimson. "The only armed ships between here and the galactic core will be ours, or our registered allies." His open palm gestured to Lilla, the motion both honorary and imprisoning.

"T-this is tyranny!" A rotund man stood, his jowls quivering.

"How dare you strip us of self-defense!" A military-cut woman slammed her fist on the table.

Zynaria's sword left its sheath with a crystalline ring that silenced the room. "You mistake mercy for weakness." Her eyes narrowed. "The Young Emperor could have turned your palaces into charnel houses. Your precious 'private forces'?" She snorted. "Our lowest-tier drones outmatch your best soldiers."

Rex raised a single finger. Zynaria's blade froze mid-swing. The administrators recoiled as if the gesture alone could decapitate them.

"You misunderstand," Rex said softly. "This isn't a negotiation about power." He leaned in, his shadow swallowing the dissenters.

"It's an education about survival. Work with us, and your people eat better than ever before. Oppose us..." The hologram displayed the Oceanic World, a fully automated paradise with not a single non-Kaelzar in sight.

"Well. We've already proven we don't need you."

The little girl's small hand suddenly gripped the edge of the table. "Enough." All eyes turned to the girl. "They're offering more than the Nexum ever did." Her gaze locked with Rex's. "But we'll need guarantees about the food distribution quotas."

Rex's smile returned. Now the real negotiation could begin.

Meanwhile, after months of relentless effort following their hard-won agreement, the intergalactic news networks erupted in a frenzy, broadcasting shocking reports across the galaxy: the Tier 8 beast, a monstrous scourge that had ravaged entire systems unchecked, had finally been slain.

The kill had required the combined might of the megacorps, pooling their resources in a desperate, coordinated assault. Yet while this victory should have been a moment of triumph, no one could bring themselves to celebrate... not when the cost had been so catastrophic.

The beast's rampage had left behind a trail of devastation... over 200 worlds reduced to lifeless husks, countless lives snuffed out in an instant.

Even the megacorps, with their near-limitless arsenals, had suffered staggering losses that came from entire fleets obliterated, super capital ships torn apart like scrap, and resources drained beyond measure.

But the true horror lay in the death toll among the galaxy's most powerful warriors. The reports confirmed that at least 600 Tier 6 powerhouses had perished during the grueling, protracted hunt.

And most chilling of all, five Tier 7 powerhouses, beings of near-legendary strength, had fallen in the final confrontation.

The galaxy held its breath. The beast was dead… but at what price?

But once the great hunt was finally over, the fleeting unity of the megacorps shattered like glass, giving way to the one force that always prevailed in the end: greed.

Each corporation, hungry for dominance, clawed for the largest share of the slain beast's remains, its flesh, bones, and cosmic essence holding unimaginable value.

Skirmishes erupted like wildfire along the borders of their territories, turning neutral zones into battlegrounds as mercenary fleets and corporate enforcers clashed in brutal, unregulated combat.

It was the same old story, playing out yet again across the stars. Greed, not survival, was the true architect of war in this galaxy.

And as always, the normal citizens and rank-and-file soldiers could do nothing but watch, trapped under the suffocating control of the neural chips embedded in their skulls, those insidious devices the megacorps used to leash their workers, ensuring obedience through pain or worse.

But Rex? Rex didn't give a damn about their petty wars.

To him, the chaos was a gift, a perfect smokescreen to push deeper into Nexum's borders and seize another world for his growing empire. Yet even as opportunity blazed before him, his focus lay elsewhere.

Thanks to the coordinates Cleo had extracted from the Blood Clan's homeworld, his fleet now drifted just beyond the orbit of a long-lost planet. This wasn't about conquest. Not today.

Rex had come for the twins.

The planet hung in the void like a scar against the stars, its surface a jagged tapestry of obsidian spires and crimson rivers, clear evidence of the Blood Clan's twisted legacy. Rex's warships lingered in the silence of high orbit, their weapons idle but systems ready for anything.