The Martial Unity

Thankfully, not all of the Homoarachnoid Web Civilization supported deepening their relationship with has was clearly a partner that didn’t truly care for them beyond itself. The other factions were centered around other ideologies.

The one that seemed most useful to him of the five was the Federalist Society. A faction that supported the decentralization of Homoarachnoid Civilization, even for the most important matters, such as an existential war between civilizations. These were mostly led by Divine Mothers who sought more autonomy and more relative power within their flocks without any constraints whatsoever.

”I could use them to weaken the homoarachnoids from within,” he noted aloud. ”It’s a strategy that my father would have used if he were forced to face them. But speaking of useful factions…”

Another faction that could very well be used to keep the Homoarachnoids in check was the pluralists.

They were the faction of homoarachnoids that thought that the web of civilization should not be limited by species.

They were homoararchnoids that had assimilated alien species into their civilization rather than exterminating them like most homoarachnoid groups did. When they came across a native species as they advanced, they found ways to integrate them into their society, creating treaties, pacts, and integrating polities.

Of course, the relationship was never equal, most of them were reduced to complete servitude, even if they weren’t exactly treated like slaves, due to their lower intelligence or capabilities. Primitive life was treated as research material or entertainment.

Type-one Civilizations were treated better due to their ability to communicate and establish complex political structures. However, only type-two civilizations had the ability to establish a relationship that wasn’t too far away from equal.

Given that human civilization was beyond type-two, having conquered ten thousand stars and ever more as it expanded forth at an aggressive rate, it would undoubtedly be able to negotiate an equal relationship with this faction.

”Never happening.”

Frankly, Rui would rather fight to oblivion than allow humanity to bend the knee to the homoarachnoids.

But they were useful in that they opposed the extermination of alien species and lobbied to maintain good relations with alien civilizations. They were the primary opponent of the war with the Dessandrites, but because they were outnumbered by two factions that supported the war, they hadn’t been able to stop it.

The final major faction was one that Rui couldn’t even comprehend.

It was called the Divine Web Faction.

And they were composed of Divine Mothers who sought to achieve the Divine Web.

He had yet to dig out what this meant. O-o-o-o’s mind was too complex to find details very easily, but it showed that there were aspects of his civilization that he still very much didn’t comprehend.

Beyond that, Rui had also collected information on their military might, technology, and their civilizational power, which he could use to model how to wage war against them. Of course, he didn’t intend to do that himself, human civilization had many qualified experts and a dedicated organization for that.

He was confident that the Council of Strategy and Security, a body established by the Gaian Alliance containing the best military and security experts across human civilization, from both state and non-state actors, to process intelligence gathered from organizations across human civilization and provide ICAs, intelligence community assessments, pertaining to matters of civilizational security, would be able to handle the information he had collected from the Divine Mother.

”Claris, transmit this to the CSS,” Rui spoke directly to her regardless of distance as he transmitted an encrypted digital file to the Kandrian Empire’s Central Intelligence database. ”File a commission for an ICA of the civilizational security threat posed by the Homoarachnoid Web Civilization.”

”Yes, Your Majesty. May I inquire if you have completed your analysis of the Divine Mother’s memories if I am asked about it?” Her professional voice rang in his ears.

”Oh no, not even close,” Rui heaved a tired sigh. ”I’m just getting started. Frankly, under these conditions, it would take me centuries if not millennia to decode her entire mind, but I’m only looking for important information that could help us win a war, so it shouldn’t take too long to develop a major information advantage across our civilization. Also…”

He fell into thought. ”What is Sayfeel up to right now?”

”He’s in the Kandrian Empire, awaiting Her Highness’s return, I believe,” Claris replied.

”Hmm…” Rui’s ethereal eyes lit up. ”Tell him he’s being reassigned.”

”I don’t believe that he will be happy to hear that, Your Majesty. You know how attached he is to Ria. Although I suppose it is redundant telling you that to you of all people, Your Majesty.”

He could hear a hint of mirth beneath her highly detached and professional tone of voice.

”You do realize saying ’Your Majesty’ does not magically make disrespect respectful, right?” Rui huffed lightly. ”I know he will be upset, but he has better work to do than to simply protect my daughter’s identity.”

”Given that your daughter is the center of your universe, what could possibly be more important to you, Your Majesty?”

Rui’s expression grew more serious.

”Spying on the homoararchnoids, of course.”

Claris didn’t respond to that immediately, as if she found that to be a very compelling reason to divert a precious Transcendent Candidate from stealth-wrapping his daughter’s identity.

”I have located the homoarachnoids’ territory in the Orion Star System.” He turned towards the three-dimensional hologram of the Orion Star Strand that he had marked with the various territories of the various major civilizations that occupied it. ”Which means that we can commence espionage operations. Of course, have the Council of Strategy and Security and the Gaian Intelligence Organization evaluate the viability of such an operation based on the intelligence that I’ve gathered. But in my estimation, if paired with a cutting-edge stealth frigate armed with the best Transcendent-grade esoterics we have available, and with his power as a Candidate, it should be viable.”

More than anything, Rui didn’t want to get caught off guard by developments in the Homoarachnoid Web Civilization.