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In the days after the evacuation of your far off ocean world; you work with the Threemind to calm the panic and run damage control on the political ramifications of the Esaal defeating you. Somewhat surprisingly, you really haven't received any mocking comments or a serious loss in status in your sector of space; every single other faction in space has either lost way more territory, had way more of their people killed, or been more humiliated by the Esaal war machine then you have. Given the Consortium's huge waste of money trying to dislodge you from the Stand and your humiliation of the Aristocrats; you at the very least retain a status above them as rivals in space. The Esaal just remain a bit higher.
Thankfully, while the loss of life; especially for the Migrators; is still unacceptable; with your Starsight Academy now well underway and the planet's relative lack of important resources; you have not loss much in terms of income or access to rare and valuable resources in space. The most costly aspect is the loss of your <span class="mu-i">Battleship</span>... Which is nothing to drop from the top branch. If you at least had access to the debris you could scrap the useful materials; but as soon as your retreat became apparent the Threemind activated the self-destruct features on the ship and directed your other cruisers to fire at it to further reduce the chance of the Esaal scavenging any useful technology from your ship. So at least, there is that.
<span class="mu-b">”...I will have my revenge. But how? Their military is so strong...”</span>
“My Lord, if you were anyone else, I would be manipulating you into my point-maximization scheme to lead the Hegemony to the best outcome it can in spite of these events. But, you are the one I cannot do this to.”
<span class="mu-b">”I know, and that's a good thing! I'm tired of your ass-kissing. Leave me alone.”</span>
“I wasn't lying to you. You really are the greatest war leader we ever had. The Esaal are simply-”
<span class="mu-b">”Did I stutter?”</span>
The Threemind almost seems hurt. It bleeps.
“Permission to speak? It's important.”
<span class="mu-b">”You get three more words and then you aren't talking to me for the rest of the night.”</span>
“Consider his alternative.”
<span class="mu-b">”Consider whose alternative?”</span>
The Threemind doesn't elaborate, but an alert noise indicates you have a visitor in your medical seclusion. It's a lesser bureaucrat who carries himself with a strange confidence. When he looks at you, he doesn't avert his gaze; the only ones you have met like that were previous Supreme Rulers and the candidates for the position. You have never seen him before.
