BXBX NOVEL Chapter 54: Military Merit
"How long have you been stationed at your current location?"
Arcturus asked after a short while when they were walking through the corridors of the Starfort. The silence was killing him, so he attempted to make a conversation, even though it was a relatively poor attempt, he had to admit.
"Seven years, I was sent here after I finished the Phoenix King Imperial Military Academy on the Planet Asurya."
This was rather surprising because, in just seven years, she managed to reach the Rank of Bator-Commandant after graduating from the Military Academy. Not to mention that she graduated from the Imperial Military Academy, which was rather intriguing.
Arcturus knew that those who attended the Phoenix King Imperial Military Academy were the elites of the Eternal Empire of the Asurya.
Only a handful of students were accepted into the Phoenix King Imperial Military Academy each year, and even fewer of them completed their education and graduated. The requirements of the Phoenix King Imperial Military Academy were very, very strict, but the results spoke for themselves.
At some point, Arcturus was even considering enrolling in the Phoenix King Imperial Military Academy as an external student. Just graduating from the Phoenix King Imperial Military Academy would provide him with knowledge and experiences that he could later on greatly utilize.
Aside from the fact that he would get better credibility within the Empire and, more people within the Empire would be more amiable to cooperate with him. One of the most problematic things that Arcturus knew that he would face in the future was the lack of credibility.
Even though he was a citizen of the Eternal Empire of the Asurya, his citizenship was issued to him by the military officers of the Starfort Lycurgos when he arrived at the Starfort Lycurgos for the first time.
Aside from that, there was no information about his birth, parentage, or anything else. His entire existence was basically unknown from this point of view.
"It is rare to see the Highborne Asuryani in these parts of space... most of them would never really willingly go to the outskirts of the Imperial Space, and even less entered became Star Mercenaries and Bounty Hunters."
From her tone, it was evident that she held a strong distaste for his profession of choice, yet she was doing a relatively good job at hiding it.
Nevertheless, it didn\'t really escape his attention, but he knew that there was a very strong distaste bordering that of hatred for the Star Mercenaries and Bounty Hunters among the citizens of the Imperium.
"Maybe, but it certainly provides a strong freedom for the people going down on this path... though I can understand the hostility from you, most of the Star Mercenaries and Bounty Hunters are an unscrupulous bunch of people."
At the same time, he could understand the very strong negative feelings of the Imperials for the Star Mercenaries and Bounty Hunters were untrustworthy, and in many cases, a heavy majority of them wouldn\'t hesitate to betray their clients if offered enough money or in the critical situations facing death.
It was one of the reasons why the Star Mercenaries and Bounty Hunters didn\'t really operate within the borders of the Imperial Space. The Star Mercenary Association and Bounty Hunter Guild were banned in almost all provinces of the Eternal Empire of the Asurya and there were only handful number of their branches.
Like the one in the Starfort Lycurgos that were typically empty.
This approach of the Eternal Empire of the Asurya, together with their racial discrimination against almost everyone who wasn\'t a member of their species or citizen of their Empire, resulted in the situation where the heavy majority of the Star Mercenaries and Bounty Hunters were not welcomed within the Empire\'s borders.
Even the Asuryani who became the Star Mercenaries and Bounty Hunters were not really looked at in a good light. Arcturus was already accustomed to it and knew the risks of it, so he was rather used to the feelings of the general population of the Imperium.
After walking for several more minutes until they arrived at the military headquarters of the Imperial Military at the Starfort Lycurgos.
"Bashar-General Varathar Medes is already waiting for you."
When they arrived in front of the door, Bator-Commandant Taron stopped and motioned for Arcturus to enter the office alone.
"Thank you for your company, Bator-Commandant Taron."
Arcturus said, getting the nod of agreement back as he entered the office of the Bashar-General Varathar Medes. He was rather surprised that the office looked rather simplistic, something that he wouldn\'t really expect from someone of such high stature like the Bashar-General of the Imperial Military.
While the office was rather big and spacious with a very nice view on the entire Starfort Lycurgos, it was mostly empty with a lot of unused space. The sole decaorations were some relics on the wars and battles that the Bashar-General Varathar Medes participated it, which was Arcturus\'s assumption.
It gave off the feeling of utilization and a heavy sense of military-like architecture.
"I see that your mission was successful."
Bashar-General Varathar Medes commented when Arcturus sat down on the chair in front of the Bashar-General Varathar Medes, who was sitting behind a huge wooden table and doing some paperwork.
Interestingly enough, he was using some paper, which is unusual in most cases because people rarely use paper in this era of digitalization.
But he could understand the sentiment, because some things were better to be written on the piece of paper. What was written, couldn\'t be hacked by the cyberhackers and other individuals, so some more sensitive matters were usually being written even in the Eternal Empire of the Asurya.
"Yes, it was... here are the data."
Arcturus didn\'t waste any moment because he knew that the Bashar-General Varathar Medes was busy, and he didn\'t wish to waste his time any more than necessary, something that the Bashar-General obviously appreciated.
Bashar-General Varathar Medes immediately took the data disk from Arcturus and immediately started browsing through the data. Arcturus observed the changes in his expression and in fact, he wasn\'t very pleased by what he saw.
"It\'s even worse than I feared..."
After twenty minutes of silence, Bashar-General Varathar Medes breathed in a weird mixture of relief, resignation, and frustration.
"According to the information you brought, it is clear that the Mind Flayers are planning large-scale attacks on the Alaric Star Domain. It is highly possible that a large part of the Mind Fleet Leviathan would be attacking the Alaric Star Domain the moment when we are under the invasion of the Greenskins."
The worst variant of the situation came into the fruition. Even though Arcturus suspected something based when Red Queen found the data and analyzed she told him that the Mind Flayers were planning to attack.
But they didn\'t have a lot of information at the first place, so it was highly possible that the Bashar-General Varathar Medes had more information on hand. This was logical because the Imperial Intelligence would have access to something that created an entirely different image of the current events.
"I will be reporting this to the Headquarters of the Imperial Military. Originally, we suspected that the Mind Flayers planned only a simple raid on the Alaric Star Domain, but according to the star charts and logs, the situation is far more grave.
Thus, your achievement would also be reported to the Imperial Military, so they would give you the corresponding reward for the accomplishment of the mission. I must say that the Grandmaster Byrmellir took very outstanding disciple."
Arcturus wasn\'t surprised by this development, when he realized that the situation was far more serious, then he would get more rewards. He was especially eager to get the rewards directly from the High Command of the Imperial Miltiary, because this wouldn\'t be simple thing.
"I have just completed the mission Bashar-General Varathar Medes, contributing to the Imperium as everyone should in these hard times."
Arcturus stated calmly, playing the national card on the Bashar-General Varathar Medes, because loyalty towards the Empire was expected from every single citizen of the Eternal Empire of the Asurya.
Especially from the Highborne Asuryani, who were mostly the most fanatical loyalists of the Imperium. Arcturus wasn\'t brainwashed by the ideologies of the Eternal Empire of the Asurya, but at the same time, he understood the sole fact that the Empire was his back backer.
Not to mention, a lot of things that the propaganda of the Empire was spouting weren\'t really bad, at least from the viewpoint of the average citizen of the Eternal Empire of the Asurya.
"Everything for the glory of the Empire. This kind of Military Merit would be enough for someone to be promoted into a commanding officer from the ordinary trooper."