Who could have thought one of the greatest generals of the empire would fall in battle? And so quickly too? 

It must be said, that the dukes fleet tried their best. Suppressing their fear, and continuing into battle, but against truly emotionless machines, there is no such thing as fear. In the end, it was humanity that became the empires greatest weakness. 

Perhaps it is human instinct to fear things that are inherently greater than themselves, but it will also become a self made downfall. 

Arel and Sile were willing to create those machines, because they were facing an enemy far stronger than themselves. They had already accepted death when they began their operations. 

It was that acceptance which allowed them to create the weapons and defences they did. Not caring if their own creations at some point would turn on them, they simply wanted to build an extremely powerful force. 

Now the members of the court sit quietly in the meeting room, they're aware of their fate, and none of them chose to speak. It was over, and they had lost badly. 

Their thoughts would come to fruition. Over a span of a year, the federation pushed the empires forces back again and again. The constant victories increased the morale of the federation soldiers. 

Treaties of peace were sent to Salessa, who chose to ignore it. Although she was not a tyrannical person, she couldn't leave the empire a way out. If they had a chance to recuperate, it would become a major problem in the future. 

In this way, more territory was annexed, pushing the empire away from their strongholds. It wasn't until the aristocrats and ministers had fled towards their farthest border, that Salessa decided they would not be a threat. 

Many of the aristocrats tried to surrender to her, but she didn't have any intention of accepting them. Their network of contacts are too large, if they were given free reign to move in the federation, who knows how long it would be, before there was an internal struggle?

So she decided that they would remain at the border. It was an exile of sorts, however it was still enough of a mercy, to the group of old and pedantic alphas. 

It took a long time to stabilise the hearts of the citizens of the empire, whose territory had been merged into the federations. Taking out any suspicious groups that were probably related to the empires court, and some that wished to incite rebellion. 

When everything was finally settled, years had already passed. The colossal mechas had long since returned to their creators, and Salessa wished to finally meet the two omegas that dealt such a devastating blow to their own empire. 

Salessa wouldn't be suspicious of the two, believing they wanted to usurp power, because she had seen the defences they had erected. None of them were simple, and it had already been proven that they were capable of destroying entire fleets. They wouldn't need her or the federations army if they wanted to rule the empire, but they chose to ally themselves with her. It was obviously because they wanted a place where they would be treated equally. 

She, as an Omega, could understand that perfectly. Even in the federation which was more accepting of omegas and Omega rights, there was still discrimination, let alone for aristocratic omegas in the empire. 

She couldn't leave the federations capital, so she sent an invitation to the two. She didn't know if they would accept it, after all, letting them leave their stronghold, where they had remained for nearly a century would be difficult for anyone,but surprisingly they readily agreed. 

In the years of integrating the empire into the federation, they also took over their warp points, including them into their own, which made travel quite simple. 

Arel and Sile were indeed not worried. They hadn't been idle during those years. Slowly involving their harvests in the federations business circle. 

Using the money they had earned from previous sales, they began to invest heavily into the federation. They hadn't planned on doing this in the empire because they were under such strict supervision, but now, they could use their enormous wealth, to create a strong backing for themselves in the federation. 

Many of the merchants, or wealthy members of the empire had the same idea. So very quickly, shares and stock prices sky-rocketed, and land on the federations planet became extremely scarce. 

Salessa had expected it, so she wasn't surprised. The new financial influx had helped the federations dwindling reserves, which allowed her to breathe a sigh of relief. Of course there are disadvantages to this practice too, but the advantages still outweigh them. 

Arel and Sile had purchased a large area of land on the federations capital. It was in the main city, but away from their political district. The two of them had no intention of getting involved in politics, so they had robots build a luxurious mansion in their commercial district. This was the place that suited them best, alongside many of the empires other businessmen and businesswomen. However it soon became apparent, that their wealth was still far above even the old merchant families. 

They used the ostentatious estate to introduce themselves to the wealthy circle,and it proved very effective. Even their original homes, belonging to their families, were not as extravagant as the mansion they built. 

Salessa showed great importance to the meeting between them, so when she received reports that their ship had arrived, she sent people to escort them directly to her mansion. 

Arel and Sile brought a small group of colossal mechas as their protection, which shocked the people of the federations capital. They had been informed of an alliance between a group in the empire that sent terrifying mecha, but seeing the gargantuan titans, they couldn't help but hold their breaths. 

Salessa acquiesced to their protective measures, and it didn't take long for the mechas to power down in Arel and Sile's newly built mansion. However they could still be clearly seen from a distance, like silent guardians. After that, the two omegas were escorted by the delegation to Salessa's mansion.