January 17 7 AE (military calendar)January 17 2029 AC (global calendar)SperoI reread the brief in front of me for the hundredth time but it hasn’t changed like I hoped. I sigh and finally accept it. A secret vote was put forward for the citizens regarding what my title should be and term limits and other such things.

  The results were as varied as they were surprising. The now official title of any who hold my position is now tyrant. James Jonas Jamison put it perfectly on his news broadcast.

  “It’s not just a title it’s a reminder of what not to become”

  As for term limits, they voted that so long as the current tyrant can pass votes of confidence they can stay in power.

  On one hand, I’m gd because it makes my job easier to guide them all but all it takes is one thing, and someone else is where I am putting Elysium into a nose dive.

  I decide to just turn on triple J news and take a break. “We have a new study here and it’s the publisher. Dr Malcom care to eborate on this study and do keep in mind not everyone has a degree in cellur theory”

  Oh fuck this might be bad. “Thank you, James. My study regards the gene therapy that many in our military received to combat radiation sickness. I believe it may have been too effective”

  James leans forward in his desk “How can it be too effective” The doctor clears his throat and continues “The treatment consists of lengthening the telomeres in your cells preventing DNA damage. It also allows the cells to repair the DNA”

  James furrows his brows but lets dr Malcom continue “While this does dramatically reduce the effect of radiation sickness it also stops aging” and there it is. I knew someone was going to notice eventually when a generation of soldiers just don’t age.

  “Effectively this treatment makes those who receive it biologically immortal. Now this can pose problems so I propose we cease these treatments until we can reintroduce the aging process without compromising the immunity to cancer”

  James nods and says “And what about those who already got this treatment” Malcolm seems to already have an answer in the form of a non answer “It’s not for me to say but I would recommend reintroducing the aging process in them”

  I groan and turn off the feed. I knew it was a bad idea to have Varian make the treatment. Oh well, it’s done now. My office door opens and Siff walks in. “I know you put forth that vote without my knowledge but I’ll ignore that”

  She was prepared for getting caught and brought a bottle of my favorite mead. Setting it on my desk she says “ I’ve got some interesting news”

  Her using interesting instead of bad is almost worse. One time before we burned the old universe she said her Varian and Grus made a horrific flesh-eating virus that could strip a man down to the bone in seconds but extend the victim’s consciousness to make it feel like days.

  And she always presents interesting news in an upbeat tone. “The Oort Cloud abnormally has been determined to be alien and we’re working on transting their nguage but more immediately actionable is the data the little saint found”

  I pour myself a gss of the mead and take a swing then ask “First do we know if the aliens are ones Joan made or” She paused a second and I know it’s either mostly for show or she just spent close to a year thinking of her response.

  “We’d need visual on them to confirm and with how little of the nguage we are hearing it’s best to not say one way or another though we did see two rge bursts of comms one right after the Pacific incident the other just now right after the 104ths parting gift” I nod and she continues “as for the data it’s FTL research, we can drop it on the team you made and we should have results retively soon”

  That is good news and it shows on my face “Let doctors Shaw and Fujikawa know that we’ll get them whatever they need but to keep in mind we have a war going on so they may have to ask the private sector for some assistance”

  I gesture for Siff to take a seat, the official talk is over and she knows it. “I know this is sort of random but why do you think the 104th hasn’t come up with an actual name or motto like the rest of the units they certainly have enough honors”

  She shrugs “If you want the real answer you’ll have to ask the T.Rex but from what I hear they say the right name hasn’t popped up but the smaller units have come up with names so it’s just the main one that’s left”

  I nod “Interesting. Regardless it’s their unit it doesn’t matter one way or another I just wanted to hear your thoughts” She pauses a moment “Honestly Spero them not having a name for so long has basically the same effect, everyone sees those three numbers and gets out of the way”

  I ugh a little “They haven’t caused too much trouble have they” She shakes her head knowing as well as I that it was a rhetorical question. She tilts her head to the side slightly and asks “So what are your pns for all that ash? I know the people will want an answer”

  I think for a moment before I answer “That’s fairly simple, capture the seed vaults and use them combined with our vaults reseed earth. As for the ash, it’s a mix of just waiting for it to settle and setting up essentially giant air filters”

  She raises an eyebrow “And the oceans” I shrug “Once the air is clear it should settle quickly… you know this we watched it before” she frowns. Sometimes having a perfect memory is a terrible thing.

  It was the second war in heaven. We found this second chance but it was inhabited by simir eldritch monstrosities that we faced in the old universe.

  How they got there is still a mystery, maybe they are a natural phenomenon in every universe. Regardless of their origin, they were inhabiting the only pce we could get humankind here so first we just dropped a pnet on Earth.

  This formed the moon but those eldritch things were surprisingly resilient so we sent in Legion while the pnet and moon were still molten. It took about a thousand years to be sure we got them all so we sat back and watched the earth reform and recover.

  Life sprang back up and flourished that is until we noticed something. As is human civilization wouldn’t spring up naturally so we dropped another rock on the earth this time much smaller and targeted to do just enough damage.

  The target was the Yucatan peninsu and it created nearly identical conditions to what we currently have. Siff looks up at me “Have you read the estimates of human life lost and global species endangered or extinct now”

  I nod “It’ll only get worse until it gets better” no one has told Tanya’s men but they inadvertently killed nearly half the popution in a day. With how the earth is, every species is endangered.

  I shrug “It’s too te now to change it so best use it to our advantage. Luckily we barely felt it. Surface realistate took a price drop but we haven’t had any food shortages that I’ve been informed about”

  Siff nods “A few luxury items are off the shelf is all but even triple J news is reporting that our people are taking it in stride and even condemning China”

  I burst out ughing for a minute, “I honestly didn’t expect that kind of reaction” Siff gets the look on her face again that she has an idea “Did you ever look at the ship names the 104th picked”

  I shake my head “They work under bliss I didn’t think there would be problems” Siff shakes her head “Oh no there aren’t problems the names are honestly kind of creative”

  She holds out her tablet and it lists the ships with their names, the so-called siege ship is named the Onager which is quite fitting. The battleship that’s completed was dubbed Theseus. Whoever proposed that name must be fairly funny and assume that the ship is going to get an absolute beating.

  The single cruiser that’s finished is called Ats and the five frigates are called “Big Boy” “Celina” “Little Rascal” “Defiance” and stly and this is the one that made me burst out ughing “boaty mcboat face”

  I hand back her tablet seeing she also has a huge grin on her face. “The more things change the more they stay the same” I chuckle and she nods saying “Remember the ship punchy mc punch face”

  I think for a moment and have to recall all the way back to the old world “the one that somehow destroyed a ship fifty times its tonnage” Another nod “That’s the one I bet these frigates will be entertaining to watch”

  I look at the clock and realize what time it is “I think that’s enough work for today I do have a small favor to ask can you reach out to James jonah Jameson and see if he’s willing to do an interview, usual agreement that he can ask basically anything”

  Siff nods and we both leave, me for my home and her to take care of more cndestine things. Once I turn in for the night I visited Nyx and Casper. It’s always a weird feeling to have your mind pulled from your still-breathing body and then walk around with it.

  I find Casper first rexing at his favorite cafe. I think half the appeal for him is the outdoor seating. I guess he likes people-watching? I greet the shoggoth who’s working the counter and sit with Casper.

  He seems a little uneasy. He most likely wants to ask me something. “What’s on your mind” I wait patiently for him to answer. He’s still working on how he wants to phrase his question certainly, so he continues to drink his tea.

  “Alright let’s go with something easier, whatever you want to ask must be important or strange…” I trail off and he picks up the conversation “Isn’t it fascinating what becomes mundane when one lives for billions of years”

  I nod at the shoggoth “I felt I would lose my sanity just looking at one of them now they serve all of r’hy and those enjoying their afterlife. How the embodiment of madness itself’s favorite thing to bestow is the inability to become mad”

  We both chuckle but Casper gets a forlorn look on his face “Spero… these millennia… I’m not sure I want to sit and watch Earth anymore it’s lonely here”

  I hold up my hands stopping him “Cass if you want into Earth you only need to ask. Whether it be from boredom or something or someone catching your eye it’s no problem… just let Siff know at least so she can get you sorted out in your life it’s your business, not mine”

  He seems genuinely surprised which hurts a little that he didn’t think I’d let him into Earth but whatever. He starts speaking again but seems uncertain “I think I’ll try my hand at being a soldier. All these ages and it’s something I’ve never done… not like you. I think… I think it’ll help me understand”

  I nod and smile. “It’s both interesting and amusing to see how you get flustered around us but to others you're an impenetrable enigma” he waves me off “It’s hard to be enigmatic when you’ve all known me so long and don’t make light my decision”

  I chuckle a little “Cass you know I’m not and now I see why you were so anxious” Despite being the embodiment of death he’s rather adverse to it he prefers his other half of life.

  However, his wanting to be a soldier has a very subtle implication. I’ll have Siff help me throw him a bone. “Cass do you want to go through the whole process or have us just get you into a unit”

  Either way, I can put him where I want though I know he’ll perform. “I understand the concepts but I will not fool myself I ck the skills and usable knowledge” I nod slowly “Basic it is though it’ll be weird timing I’ll get you into a css that’s just starting you’ll lose about a month but you’ll be fine”

  He tilts his head and squints “Will that not be suspicious” I shrug then notice a drink in front of me “Seems Nyx noticed me I’m guessing he’ll be here soon. Anyway, it won’t be that bad, because of the surge in immigration if a css isn’t too bloated and has only been going for about a month we drop in cadets. It’s hard on the cadet because they lose a month of conditioning and some csses but we haven’t had one fail because of it”

  This seems to satisfy him and Nyx sensing this conversation is over for now, Nyx pops into existence at our table. Sometimes I wonder if this shop gets more people because the pilrs enjoy it. After all, there isn’t better advertising than ‘even the gods drink here’ or something like that.

  “Nys I was about to track you down perfect timing” he chuckles “You know that in my domain you need but whisper my name and I’ll hear you” I shake my head and grin “Where’s the fun in that” Then I sigh and my expression darkens slightly “I need to ask how much have you told the saint”

  Nyx rubs his tentacles “Just the surface level I believe she only knows of the old universe and a great confgration happened but thats it” I rex a little “I had to check I know you both know what shouldn’t be shared just yet”

  Casper adds in “She met Legion” I sigh “It was sooner than I’d like but it’s not the most heinous secret we hold” I feel a little bad about souring the mood but I know we are all thinking of the same thing in our silence.

  A city beset on all sides by indescribable abominations with great flesh ships in the sky with only legion keeping the sky above the city clear. Artillery firing by the thousands every second of every day creating a wall of atomic fire in an attempt to keep the beasts at bay.

  The air was more dangerous than it currently is on Earth the air itself glowed from the radiation. Still, the wall of flesh grew closer until it breached the walls and we had to leave. The universe itself wanted us dead so we killed it.

  Millions of soldiers died creating enough time for their families to escape through the gate to eternity and into r’hlya. Billions of tears shed.

  I break the silence “Once we cim earth we need to build the soldier's monument” This has been an idea we’ve been tossing around and we’re absolutely going to cheat a little to make it. Well, not make it but make it st.

  I get the faint buzzing in my head that I’m needed outside of here so I get up “Sorry to cut this short, we’re going to have a party to celebrate Casper both of you make sure to be there… oh and Cass if you need advice ask Ori or kell”

  I poof back into my body before Casper can ask anything.