The first Whoberis had already taken the Oath and were building up their Cores. While the Novas were blue and gold, and the Terrans were red and gold, the Whoberis were green and gold. The Corbinites were also interested in a non-cyborg alternative for their soldiers, and the vetting was going on for a new Stone Corps in brown and gold.

Their current duties were essentially peacekeeping and helping the Whoberis settle into their new lives while they grew their Cores. Once they hit Tier Three, they would have the option of engaging in military duties.

The Whoberis were not a violent people, but they now had a grudge with the Badoon that would literally never go away. Also, they immediately fell in love with the Acanti, and had already submitted requests to found a dermal city or two in conjunction with them, and were eagerly moving into the Acanti upgrade and support professions.

Because of the need to regain their population, military volunteers would not be accepted unless the volunteer already had at least two children. That was going to slow down most of them, and keep them on local duties, defense, and support jobs, while still leaving the possibility open for the persistent.

The Whoberis didn’t have a Worldmind and cloning cylinders bringing in constant numbers of reborn people to re-establish themselves like the Xandarans did, at this point generating literally ten thousand fully functional adults a day. That was good on a micro scale, but on the macro scale, there were literally billions of Xandaran souls waiting for their one more turn at life, so it was actually not all that impressive. Indeed, their population had been greatly stifled by the size of the Shards of their homeworld, and with that restriction lifted, the Xandarans were starting to truly re-establish themselves... but not as they had in the past.

Most of the Xandarans were choosing the Acanti Nomads route at this time, with the balance being split between Venus and the Blue Area. The Nomads were embracing a very different lifestyle than their culture had in the past, totally taking a new path in life, and the freedom of Chaos that went with it, playing off their debt against Death and Law.

While their people needed a center and a place of production, they were not going to be tied to a planet that could be annihilated by enough gathered firepower. The Whoberis agreed with this philosophy, but without the means to rapidly regain their numbers so readily, they could only do it the natural way, although fertility treatments and supporting technology meant that there would be no problems having some very large families, indeed.

Adding a Golden Corps of Galador would mean that the existing Spaceknights could return to their living bodies, yet still aid in the defense of their people. Sacrificing their mortality would be something that could be done on a temporary basis, and Corpsmen with powerful enough Cores could rival a Spaceknight in power, it simply took more time and effort.

There were definite advantages to being a Spaceknight over having a Core, not the least being that you went right to the top of the power curve instantly, but now it could be an emergency measure instead of a desperate move. Build up the Golden Corps enough, and Spaceknights would be an honorable volunteer position or alternative means of service, instead of the only path.

Also, another noble ally for Terra in space. Allies were important. Especially since the Galadorans had the technology to actually move their entire home system, known as the ‘Golden Galaxy’, to a different location...

“It will be good for all your people to have an alternative,” I agreed with him, feeling the emotions radiating off him. He could return to being a man, instead of a cyborg machine built for war. “Let’s go bring some hope to your people, shall we?”

--------

The captain of the Starholder was now General Steve Rogers, who had left the Avengers behind and made the jump into space. Peggy was now holding down most of the administrative and diplomatic duties on LaGrange, freeing up Carol to take a more active role as Comet. Back down on Earth, the Red and Blue Shields of New York had taken over the New York SHIELD directorship and the Patriot’s place on the Avengers.

It had turned out that Super-Soldiers couldn’t normally build an Ultra-Core, but that didn’t stop the demand for their services.

The Xandarans had been informed of the capabilities of Terran Super-Soldiers on a tactical and strategic level, and had confirmed all of this with some exhaustive testing. Unfortunately for them, the Serum didn’t work on their own people, coded as it was to guide humans down a specific evolutionary advancement.

They had been extremely impressed by the moral and ethical filters put into place for the process, too. Very quickly, they had begun recruiting Shielders into officer positions for their baseline infantry, as trainers, and as commanders of Nova ships and deployment teams. A Shielder’s ability to command in the field, adapt to situations, get the maximum out of their troops, and accomplish objectives simply couldn’t be ignored.

That ability had been confirmed in naval combat as well. Ships commanded by Shielders hummed with readiness, responsiveness, and adaptability. Coupled with superior Xandaran technology and enhanced crews, they punched far, far above their weight in contests against alien ships they ran up against, capable of both ruthlessness and sacrifice in the moments where it was needed most.

Super-soldiers, indeed.

I’d worked with General Rogers several times now. My Cosmic Awareness ability to visualize the whole battlefield and the Karnak power to discern weaknesses dovetailed extremely well with his super-soldier ability to take advantage of them. Our Erskine Super-Soldier Warlords loved having me around on all the levels.

Since they took a huge load off my shoulders in terms of determining who and where to hit, I didn’t mind at all.

“Ready to go, General,” I reported in from the hangar deck.

-Acknowledged.- “Attention all crew. We’ll be exiting the LaGrange Interdiction Field before making our first jump. We’re going to be picking up some new friends before heading off on a new diplomatic mission. The Galadoran Spaceknights are recognized as some of the noblest warriors in space, so be sure to treat them with the respect you’d give true veterans when they come aboard.”

With the smoothness of superior technology and a lot of loving upgrades from Schmot Guys, the Starholder pulled away from LaGrange and made for Interdiction-free range. The capacitors were already charged for the jump, and the coordinates known, a dozen Spaceknights already there and waiting for us in a galaxy humanity had never been to, which we only had an alphanumeric designation for.

The Starholder hit the edge of the Interdiction Field, and there was a sizzle of particle effects as space bent, connected, and in an instant my Cosmic Awareness confirmed we had just moved approximately ten million light years away.

Good thing Cosmic Awareness came with auto-compensation for minor location shifts like that. On a universal scale, we’d just stepped to a galaxy a couple doors down is all.

Hails rang out on coms, and Galadoran ID’s popped up on the HUD from Specs, if they hadn’t already been in my Awareness. Handshakes were made by the computers, and the Galadoran transports started streaming into the hangar deck. Not needing the amenities required for an organic crew, they were much smaller and more compact than most such vessels, almost to the level of robotics.

The spaceknights got themselves settled, the ones without transports naturally converging on Rom. There was a big storage room off to the side that had been cleared to give them all some privacy (and stop them from clogging up the hangar bay), and once they were all boarded it was simply waiting the hour or so needed to charge the teleporter up again and head off to our next destination.

----------

So as not to unduly upset the Galadorans with our arrival, we came in at the sixth planetary orbit, which would take us most of an hour to arrive at the planet at sublight speeds.

The Galadorans freaked for a moment when an alien ship popped out of nowhere, as their interstellar trade had somewhat fallen off over the decades, and the Xandaran vessel was plainly a warship of incredible power. Shocked second-generation spaceknights were naturally dispatched to intercept... and then the one hundred and eight returning spaceknights downloaded their recognition codes into the Galadoran coms, and the system went totally bonkers.

---

The interception group turned into a massive escort instead, and the whole planet was breaking out in celebration at the return of the spaceknights. I was focused on... other things as the population broke out in an instant festival that covered the whole planet.

It was indeed a world of gold and green, with a very yellow sun. The plants didn’t use base chlorophyll, and fully half of them were base yellow instead of green or blue. Combined with a soil that tended to the lighter colors, and Isotopes that seemed to favor Light in high numbers due to the Radiant nature of their sun, and yes, there was indeed a lot of gold about Galador, and many of the worlds and moons were varying shades of it as well.

The tension between the populace and the Second Generation didn’t evaporate, but it shattered in a lot of places as attention suddenly was focused elsewhere, and the leaders of the various factions found themselves scrambling to hold onto power as their followers enthusiastically went to see what the returning spaceknights were all about.

I was looking for those who were very unhappy that the spaceknights had returned. The contrast in their Fatelines was not hard to read at all. Following the Fatelines back to their sources was also not hard at all.

---

There were two hundred-some spaceknights at the grand conference three days after their return. Some of the hubbub had died down, people were wondering what was going to happen next, and it was time for the old guard and the new to sit down and determine what was going to happen.

There was some hero worship going on still, and good will, but also the expected tension between old and new.

Still, the greatest hero of the first war against the Dire Wraiths was standing right in front of them now, and he looked like a true knight should as he rose to address the officers of the new knights on behalf of his fellows.

“I, Rom, greet my brothers and sisters as fellow spaceknights of Galador. I thank you all for coming to meet with me and my fellows. As I look upon you all, I am again inspired with the spirit of sacrifice and duty that delivered Galador in times past... and I am made aware of my failings.”

And to the utter astonishment of all, Rom, the great hero of their legends, went down on one knee before the next generation. Behind him, the survivors of the ancient war rose, and they too went down on one knee.

“Sir Rom!” “My lords!” “Please rise!” “There is no reason for you to kneel!” came the immediate calls, but Rom simply bowed his head and remained silent until the protests slowly faded.

“Some will call us great heroes for prosecuting our search for the Dire Wraiths across many worlds,” Rom finally spoke. “We all know that we were merely knights, doing our duty. The heroes are the ones who did not live to make it home to our Golden Galador.”

The second generation could only nod helplessly as his voice trailed off. Ninety percent! Nine hundred spaceknights fallen in their duty! They could only look at one another and see that none of them had to pay such a price.

“We, the first spaceknights, first wish to thank you all. Your vigilance, your readiness to defend, has kept Galador free and safe these last two hundred years. Knowing you were there, that spaceknights stood ready to defend our world, they dared not come again to trouble our golden realm.

“It was there that we have failed you, even as you did not disappoint us. For this, we must ask your deepest forgiveness.”