The first thing Marcus noticed was a new event notification of the government’s official press release regarding the recent conflict with the Aeluyn Covenant:
FIRST CONTACT VICTORY
The Grand Archon and Supreme Command proudly announce the first border engagement between the Nepturan Stellar Order and the previously unknown xeno civilization, the Eryndal Anomalies, now designated as the Aeluyn Covenant. Reports from the military administration indicate that their vessels showed hostility to peaceful Nepturan civilian craft in the system. The response from the Nepturan navy was swift and decisive. The alien fleet was repelled with minimal losses, proving the superior might and discipline of the Nepturan soldier.
News of the victory has inspired unprecedented unity, patriotism, and a fervour of excitement amongst our soldiers, with many itching to be assigned duty to the armed forces to further explore the recesses of space in search of new conquests of this vast, uncharted frontier.
This moment marks a defining chapter in humanity’s dominion over the stars. No longer do we merely seek the unknown—we conquer it. The Grand Archon assures all citizens that Neptura remains unchallenged in its rightful claim to the void. While these xenos claim to desire peace, their initial hostility speaks volumes. The only peace guaranteed is the one dictated by the iron fist.
Glory to Neptura. Glory to the Creator. Glory to Humanity.
+5% Cohesion
“That’s a good way to spin it, I suppose,” Marcus said to himself while overlooking his slowly expanding interstellar state. “Not my worst defeat…” Five star systems were now under his direct control and yielding him energy, raw materials, and research points, with several more in each direction around Aureon, chartered and ready for orbital command centers.
A laid out border illustrated the expanse of his state, already encompassing multiple star systems. The border was marked by a thick white line, within which his territory was a translucent greyish white colour. Next to him, on the left of his bird’s eye view, just beside the Lysandros system, was a thick blue border; the area within was tinted a translucent dark blue that stretched off until it faded into the black, unexplored depths of space. The territory of the Aeluyn Covenant. He only saw one star system belonging to it.
The Eyrandal System. The GCI showed a few other stars blurred out in grey, showing it knew the location of those stars, thanks to astronomic study, but had no further information on them. Marucs assumed those systems also belonged to the Covenant.
The site of his first failure. Though his people were none the wiser, thinking the battle to be a great victory for the simple fact that they didn’t get obliterated. I’ll take the propaganda victory, at least, if we could not win a military one.
In any case, the Nepturan capacity to wage war had to be replenished, which meant the construction of new ships. But atop it all, he had not forgotten about his unemployment problem.
Zooming in on the Aureon system, he saw the industrial zone that he had commissioned five hundred days ago was now complete, and looking at his resources, he was rather delighted to see it had a visible effect on his economy.
Looking up at the stats, he saw:
- Power Units: 430 +46 (Vesperan Standard Monthly Gain)
- Raw Materials: 463 +25
- Food: 680 +4
- Heavy Compounds: 57 +14
- Consumer Goods: 84 -4
- Research Points: +59
- Cohesion: +198
While he still had a Consumer Goods deficit of -4 per month, this was a fantastic improvement on his previous -13. The new industrial zone was working to provide jobs that produced more Consumer Goods and Heavy Compounds, all the while soaking up his previously swelling unemployed clone population that had been further draining his Consumer Goods.
Another added benefit he noticed was that while he had been preoccupied with his little stellar border skirmish with the star elves, he had built a nice little stockpile of his key resources, all ready to be reinvested back into the Nepturan economy and military. And that's exactly what he did.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Marcus first clicked over Neptura and ordered the creation of two new clone armies to go into orbit as soon as possible, each at a cost of 100 Raw Materials. Then, calculating that he had time during the shaky peace with the Aeluyn Covenant, he decided to use his surplus of resources to invest in the Nepturan economy, rather than sink everything he had now into new ships and armies, so as to strengthen it against a potential future conflict.
Chiefly, he wanted more zones on Neptura to create further jobs and close up his deficits. A new industrial zone would cost him 500 Raw Materials, and he had just spent 200 on his new clone armies, leaving him with 263 Raw Materials.
So, as usual in such a situation, he went to the internal Nepturan Market for some Raw Materials. The exchange rate was at 130 Power Units for 100 Raw Materials. So he placed three orders for 100 Raw Materials at a cost of 390 Power Units, using up most of his monetary stockpile.
With the Raw Materials, he ordered the construction of another Industrial Zone on Neptura. With that, it was now time to speed on up ahead to continue the development of the Nepturan Stellar Order. Another year passed by swiftly as he watched his research crafts chart more systems and build command centers over a few others along with the appropriate orbital facilities to harvest their resources.
His enthusiasm at his shrinking Consumer Goods deficit was short lived. In only such a short time, it had fallen back from -4 per month to -10 thanks to his new armies and his still growing population, which grew faster than he could build new zones to give them all jobs.
I can’t catch a fucking break with this… The more he built, the more his people demanded, impelling him to build more. How long will they keep demanding?
As the population number ticked up to 38, Marcus felt the ever pressing weight of their needs fall upon his shoulders like a hydraulic press ready to squish him into nothing. Yet all he could do was continually trade his Power Units to shore up his Consumer Goods, and buy other resources for further investment.
While he waited for his Industrial Zone to finish its construction, he noticed a deficit in food production as well due to all the new hungry mouths. To address this, he ordered the construction of a Farming Zone on Neptura that would provide agricultural work for the unemployed to produce more food.
In the space of a year or so since the Star Elf incident, the resources and production of Neptura looked like this:
- Power Units: 316 +34 (Vesperan Standard Monthly Gain)
- Raw Materials: 54 +22
- Food: 693 -3
- Heavy Compounds: 74 +12
- Consumer Goods: 35 -15
- Research Points: +59
- Cohesion: +200
If he could sigh in this cybernetic realm he was stuck in, he would. Looks like I’m back to square one… No matter how much he built, the system always seemed to demand more—more jobs, more resources, more mouths to feed. It was a vicious, maddening cycle that had him forever playing catch up.
Funnily enough, it reminded him at times of running his business back home on Earth. Cash flow problems and new, fast expansion rapidly draining his resources. For all the new clients he got, he’d need more staff, more luxurious events, etcetera, all of which came at high costs that always seemed to keep rising—necessitating him to acquire new clients! A big house of cards all waiting to come crashing down. The main difference here on Neptura being that failure to manage this monster would likely mean his death. At home he could just declare bankruptcy and live off his Swiss bank account in gleeful retirement.
I’d have thought I would learn my lesson about fast expansion… Yet for some reason, he felt like the might of the Nepturan state could sustain it. Why not? What was ten members of staff being paid minimum wage back home compared to billions of clone soldiers all willing to lay down their lives for him?
As he continued patching up his stockpiles with goods bought on the market—a bandage to an ever bleeding wound—a notification from the GCI caught his attention.
XAELITH PRIMITIVE CIVILIZATION ENCOUNTERED
Our research craft has detected the presence of a primitive civilization on Sarrith 4 in the Sarrith System. From initial readings, our anthropologists have determined that the alien civilization is currently in an ‘Iron Age’ stage of development. A fragmented society consisting of numerous warring petty kingdoms, each vying for dominance over their neighbours.
The species occupies most of the planet’s surface. It is hard to say whether they may one day unify under a single banner or remain locked in perpetual conflict with one another. Establishing an Orbital Monitoring Post above their planet could provide valuable insights into their culture, technology, and potential future as an interstellar power.
“More aliens…” Marcus muttered. “Interesting.” At least they were primitive and could be crushed with ease, if need be, but Marcus had a hunch that he should consult with Claric about this.
The scientist may have further insights for him.