Lucas Tarson would die at the proud age of 298. He had seen the beginnings of the expanding life extension industry. For more than 5000 years the field had mostly operated in cycles, reiterating all the same ideas without inventing new ones. Thanks to the wealth of knowledge the Kyreikon possessed, and more importantly, their different perspective, there was finally progress. Immortality would be impossible, that was already certain, but it was still unclear how close one could get. 3000 years looked like something fairly achievable within a thousand years.

He had seen the war, the greatest change in the UE’s society since the discovery of the Gates, and he had seen peace returning to the UE. He was one of many who had fought in the war, and still one of the very few who had done so. In absolute terms, they were many. More than 300 billion men and women had, at some point or another stood on some Kyreikon world, had fought in one battle or another or had directly helped the war effort while wearing the uniform.

More than 8 trillion humans had worn the uniform, ready to defend the worlds of the UE and its protectorates, never to be cycled into the universe in which the home of humanity lied.

Humanity had been stronger than ever before when Lucas peacefully died. It had been a beacon of hope in a waitron galaxy that no-one wanted to provoke.

Funnily enough the way the peace treaty came together, long before the Kyreikon where actually beaten, which such strict terms, had helped with keeping the peace. Because the only explanation those other powers had, was a super weapon. And before they figured out what that for a super weapon was, and how it would affect them, they hesitated to wage war upon the UE and its Protectorate, the Kyreikon Federation.

When they did begin to think about it, well, the enormous industrial might of the UE and that no less than 15 battleships were in each and every known system in the UE’s sphere of influence prevented the others from getting ideas.

The UE was at peace. For 500 years they had slowly helped the Kyreikon Federation, building trust, and helping overcome old grudges. The peace treaty was running out soon, and something would replace it.

The Protectorates were no vassals. They had the right to throw out the UE if they wished, and there was no acute danger, as defined by some very strict and public guidelines. The UE could not do anything about it. And the treaty that demanded that the Kyreikon Federation would not make use of that right would run out soon. So the Kyreikon government had three big options. The first was keeping the status quo, not asking to leave, and thus remaining as a Protectorate of the UE.

That option had many positives, the main one there being no change, as well as no risk of attack, considering the strength of the UE. Admittedly, some of the economic help the Kyreikon Federation got from the United Earths would slowly go away, but, if something bad happened, it was not unlikely for that help to return.

The second option was simply to ask the UE to leave. Which that Hegemon would accept, if grudgingly. The negatives where clear, loosing the protection of the UE, although a treaty of alliance was not impossible. The positives where the fact that the Kyreikon Federation would get more freedom in their external policy. There were also prestige reasons to do it. No-one wanted to be dependent on someone else, after all.

And the third option was asking the UE if the Kyreikon Federation could join, being the 23rd Protectorate which asked, and, if accepted, would become the fourth which succeeded. The UE had already checked if the Kyreikon Federation had managed to reach the standards necessary, and the answer was yes. And, considering that the process was automatic, as long as that check-up succeeded, the Kyreikon Federation would join the UE if it decided to ask.

The advantages of this were clear, keeping the protection of the UE, and gaining access to the entire knowledge base of it as well. Gate technology would be shared for example.

The disadvantages were a bit more nebulous, but also pretty clear. The Kyreikon would be one of the smaller minorities united in the UE, who then would really need a new name, and would loose some of their current representation, thanks to the loss of the status as a Protectorate. Admittedly, the representation they got from that only helped them influence how the help they got was used, but still. It was not considered impossible for the Kyreikon to loose some of their economic benefits. But it would also allow far more open trade, which would bring economic benefits.

In the end it was no question. The Kyreikon Federation made a referendum, in which it decided to join the United Earths, who promptly renamed themselves to the United Worlds.