Chapter 21: Orientation
"Exiting Warp Tunnel at un-expected destination." The automated voice of the ship's virtual intelligence interface announced, alerting General Kregg and his Adjunct Officer Anissa to impending trouble.
"Engage stealth systems as soon as we arrive." the General ordered.
The ship exited warp travel on the edge of the star system and engaged the stealth field that made Viltrumite Warships such a terror in the galaxy. With the system engaged only visual confirmation could make them, and to their enemies they might as well exit warp travel in atmosphere for how little time they would receive to react to a Viltrumite attack.
At least that was normally the case.
The buzz of the ships VI interface alerting him to an incoming communications hail caused the corners of his mouth to turn down.
"Connect." Kregg commanded.
"Unidentified Viltrumite Warship Class Vessel, this is Crush Station Theta. You are to proceed to the provided coordinates for inspection and licensing." the voice on the hail announced, causing Kregg to growl and bare his teeth.
"How dare you demand anything of a vessel of the Viltrumite Empire!" the red cyborg eyed general yelled.
"I have a hundred and eighty repulsor cannons of the Viltrumite Empire targeting your vessel currently." the voice responded, "You are free to continue on your flight path but the only way your ship will make it into this system is through customs. The choice is yours to make, but at current velocity you have just under sixty seconds before your vessel is annihilated along with everyone inside. You will not survive impact with the repulsor cannon payload."
Kregg pursed his lips, turning his mouth into a hard line, then answered, "Complying."
The General knew better than to stand in front of the various cannons employed by the space faring species of the galaxy, and despite his disbelief in the human's possessing weaponry capable of harming Viltrumites, he would not risk his ship or his life on outdated information.
Kregg and Anissa prepared to abandon ship as the vessel changed course, the pair waiting for the first sign of a trap, but instead the vessel flew along the provided route into visual range of a massive space station. Kregg's bionic eye marked far more than the one hundred and eighty cannons mentioned over coms.
Far more.
Crusher Station Theta existed as a multi-tiered fortress built around an enormous artificial gravity well generator that bent a substantial section of space around the station, catching any wormhole tunnels and pulling them into the station's range while not actually producing any observable disturbances in the material plane. Incredibly advanced tech that prevented FTL travel into the system when used in tandem with other stations whether by wormhole travel or natural acceleration. Each crusher station acted as a super massive black hole to anything moving above the speed of light.
The warship slowed further to pass the station's energy shields, and a final time to dock with the station. Using his eye's connection to the ship's camera system, General Kregg saw only a single life form waiting in the docking pay for a ship with two Viltrumites and a thousand slave soldiers abord.
These fools would learn today.
General Kregg and Officer Anissa clenched their fists as the bay doors opened, removing the last obstacle between them and this upjumped pretender in a black Viltrumite uniform. Kregg grinned ferally as the thickly mustached man didn't even react to their incoming attacks.
His grin slipped when the man snatched both their hands while maintaining the same slack disinterest on his face. Neither Kregg nor Anissa managed to free themselves, nor make the man so much as budge until they threw additional attacks, causing him to wrestle the pair to the station floor and call for backup.
Only one more man appeared and the pair easily manhandled the old and powerful Viltrumites.
General Kregg never experienced such utter humiliation in his life, and his Adjunct looked ready for a spontaneous rage induced aneurysm.
"Welcome to the Neo Viltrumite Empire." the first man stated in a board tone, "Your slaves will have to remain on your ship, as slavery is illegal in Imperial Territory. Any attempt to bring them further into the Empire will result in forfeiture, fines, and jail time. No exemptions."
"How is this possible?" Kregg demanded in confusion at the hitherto unseen strength holding him in compliance.
"We're Viltrumites… what else would you expect?" the man answered leaving the General's mouth hanging open.
"We're Viltrumites!" Anissa shouted, red in the face.
"Hmmm… maybe?" the man dragging her around drawled, "You feel about as strong as civies."
Civies? Did these bastards just accuse the General of the Viltrumite Empire and his personal officer of being civilians? Kregg wondered if that aneurysm Anissa seemed to be building up to could kindly spread to him as well.
"Hey… I think I remember this coming up during training." the one holding Anissa said to the other, "I think they might be Remnants of the Old Empire."
The man holding the General nodded his head slowly in realization.
"I believe you are right." he chuckled, "To orientation with them!"
The black uniformed men suddenly changed directions and back tracked to another turn, leading them through the station where the procession encountered many more black clad Viltrumites, often leading around packs of purple skinned juveniles.
"What is this?" Kregg demanded of his captor.
"Don't worry. Orientation will set you to rights." the man darkly chuckled.
The men lead the pair of Remnant Viltrumites to a small auditorium and forced them to sit near the only other occupant with his own guard nearby, a massive orange cyclopean Unopan who looked incredibly uncomfortable the moment he saw Kregg and Anissa.
"Quiet down. The presentation is about to start." Announced a robotic voice
After the message metallic tendrils erupted from the seats and strapped down the three members of the audience and the room transitioned around them and music began to play. The walls of the room faded away and were replaced with a gently passing nebula.
"Welcome to the Neo Viltrumite Empire. We are so happy you are here." The digital fem voice declared while the audience struggled against their bonds in vain, "Now in its sixth millennia, the Neo Viltrumite Empire was founded when Grand Emperor Markus defended the Actually Invincible Verse from the predations of the invading parallel Flaxan Dimension."
With the narration came with a silhouette display of a valiant young man defeating alien invaders.
"Though only a juvenile at the time, Grand Emperor Mark counter invaded the Flaxan Dimension with the help of his lifelong partner, Grand Empress Kate. Together they toppled the despotic and corrupt regime that ruled the entire dimension in a single day, and spent the next thousand years establishing a new way of life for the formerly oppressed people, a way of life founded in responsibility, sustainability, and accountability."
The silhouette show continued its advance as it quickly built up cities and established order as the room provided a feeling of perpetual motion.
"On the eve of their thousandth year of rule, Grand Emperor Mark and Grand Empress Kate abdicated in favor of Empress Cassiopeia, who continued the trend, handing down a better Empire to each new Emperor and Empress.
All of this started five years ago.
But how can this be, you may wonder?
Time in the Flaxan Dimension moves over twelve hundred times faster than it does in the Actually Invincible Verse. While a major issue for the first iteration of Flaxan - Actually interaction, Tachyon Stability treatment has allowed the Neo Viltrumite Empire to reconnect with its roots in the Actually Invincible Verse starting with the integration of the Planet Earth into the Neo-Viltrumite Empire. Now both the Sol and Alpha Centari Systems have become full members of the Neo-Viltrumite Empire, welcoming Humans, Martians, and Thraxans as vassal species."
The silhouette show sped up and displayed several worlds being built up as the shadow of Emperor Mark shook hands with three other shadows of differing shape.
"Now they enjoy the same incredible access to free shelter, sustenance, education, and health care that is enjoyed within the Flaxan Dimension. War, crime, illness, and hunger are all things of the distant past for the Neo Viltrumite Empire. We have achieved fully sustainable utopia. And it is all thanks to Grand Emperor Mark.
Prepare to receive the Grand Emperor."
The silhouette show ended, and the feeling of motion in the room increase greatly as the previously gentle tunnel effect turned into flashing and streaking beams of colorful light and heart pumping noises.
"Prepare yourself." the voice commanded as the room turned to blinding white light and the Unopan screamed in fear as he struggled against his bonds.
A scream that abruptly ended when the three seated members of the room arrived in a placid field of green grass atop a cliff overlooking a blue sea. There stood a man in black, with a white fur coat draped over his impossibly wide shoulders. Every fiber of his being radiated classical Viltrumite glory and domination and his voice lit a fire in the vaginas of all females within audible distance.
"Don't get up on my account." he spoke before turning, revealing a face of incredible masculinity bearing a mustache of such perfection that even the hairless Unopan shivered at the sight of its immeasurable dignity.
"No need to startle, this is just a recording." the man spoke again and his smooth and potent voice filled every ear with pleasure, "You have come upon the Neo Viltrumite Empire during fortuitous times. If you desire peace and prosperity in perpetuity, then you have found the right place… but if you find that our immaculate order chafes and seek to buck our utopian system… then all you will find is the full weight of tens of trillions of Viltrumite hands as we descend upon you and all you have ever cared for. You will gaze upon the blood and ash that was once your lives and you will rue the day of your birth. In that wrathful image you will learn true regret. Regret for the very moment you chose to cross the wrong man."
The man's countenance became darker and more intense with each word he spoke, and the final word rang throughout the room hammering the hearts of all who heard it.
And then the man smiled with a merry light in his eyes, "Thus concludes your orientation. Please watch your step as you exit the auditorium to your left and enjoy the gift shop."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
JManM
JManM I hope the first alternate PoV chapter made you all smile as much as I did while writing it. I enjoyed the sci-fi and wanking Mark off with every word durring the orientation bit. Honestly I don't even think the Winners write history in real life, and increasingly it isn't even writen by anyone with a real passion for learning what happened in the past. But Mark gets to write his own version of history because he is both the winner and a scholar, so we got to see his wonderful propaganda campagn so that people remember him as a wonderful idealist ruler rather than the Stalin style leader we got to see in the story.
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