Last Man On Earth When There Is No Earth ?

Sector twenty one, Gorgola's orbit

"Hmm" stroking his nonexistent beard, seven thought to himself 'public speech huh, I don't think I considered this seriously'

"You can spit energy blasts from your mouth yet you can't say a few words in front of people?" Iris being Iris, she started. Making fun of him the moment he got cold feet.

'people I won't be killing, that's an important part. Besides, I don't think they have a very positive image of me…'

In the conference room, which is really just a big empty hall that took most of the second floor of the Verta clan's mothership, Seven stood in front of a large crowd.

Most of them were the fur covered tiger faced Male Herara, looking like what space pirates should look with scary eyes and scars here and there -but with not a single smoker in sight they felt more like a censored version for a kids show-

Those were the captains of each ship in the clan's fleet. Two hundred was a big number, some of them brought a few guys from their crews, added to that the thousand or so soldiers and two hundreds of the civilians who live on this ship, the place was jampacked.

All of them were looking at the stage where Seven stood, whispering between themselves.

'Anyways, I hope this would work'

"I don't think convincing such a large crowd would be easy, but you don't have to worry" Iris offered a few rare words of encouragement "just do your thing, and time would tell"

….

Three days ago, sector nineteen

Seven was asked for a big favor by Hir, the head of the Verta clan.

No, not 'big', but an unrealistic one.

"I ask that you take us under your protection"

In a more detailed description, Hir wants Seven to take in the whole clan, become their leader and allow them to take residence on his planet. Hir knew bow unreasonable his request was.

The problem doesn't lay with Seven as he does indeed have more than enough space and resources to support civilizations, it wasn't strange for wealthy planets to take in refugees either. If this was a normal group escaping war or disasters on their homeworld it would just depend on the kindness Seven is ready to offer.

But the Verta clan is no such group. They are known through space as a large scale pirate organization that undertakes in many illegal activities. A lot of their members are wanted by the intergalactic union, not to mention other bounties issues in each sector.

Then there is the issue with their homeworld, Namira, the powers over there still want the Verta clan destroyed. The moment they get news of them settling armies would move to wipe them out.

For those reasons it is understandable if Seven wanted nothing to do with them, but defying Hir's expectations he accepted less than second after Hir closed his mouth

"Alright" Seven said, his hair returning to its normal color.

"… huh?" Hir stopped thinking for a moment.

Iris facepalmed herself.

"Did you even stop to think about it for a moment?" the ghost girl didn't know much about the clan herself, but she understood that they were bad news "those people attacked us, imprisoned us, tried to kill you and now you want to help them just because he asked!?"

"Well, I was kinda planning on doing something like this anyways" Seven said with a smile, but it only got him a frown from his freeloading ghost.

"It's about the cat-girls isn't it?" she said with a hand on her forehead as if she wasn't feeling well.

Seven shrugged his shoulders while looking away "whatever do you mean?"

That pissed of Iris even more "and to think you were sooo overjoyed when Lilia accepted your half assed proposal… you're already preparing options for who you're going to cheat on her?"

"C'mon now, you can read my mind right? You know I don't have that kind of fortune"

"umm… by cat-gurrls you mean…?" back to the real world Hir joined in on the conversation, raising his hand slowly as he asked that question.

"Your females, he wants your females"

"our females… all of them?" Hir blinked a few times, bot noticing his jaw dropping.

"Well, I'm not that greedy so I will just take the v.i.r.g.i.ns"

"how is that not being greedy?" Iris responded to Seven's attempt at a joke.

"If… if it's females you want…" Hir didn't seem to notice the sarcasm, taking what Seven said at face value "as the head of the clan you can mate with any of the females who still have yet to give birth, but my lord…"

"What?"

"my lord, you… you are not one of us, I mean… from our race, I don't understand why you would want to mate with our…"

"Because they are cute"

Seven's nonchalant answer shocked Hir even more. Although it would be a difficult decision to make, Hir was ready to do whatever it takes to secure a future for his people. It pains him to have to sacrifice their young daughters, but he was sure his subordinates would understand

"I… they might not be willing to be your mates since you're from a different race, but I'm sure I can convince them if you give me some time…"

"That was a joke by the way" it was obvious that Hir struggled with that decision, so Seven reassured him that he had no interest in what he had in mind "I'm getting married soon after all"

"… could it be that your partner is that Zesionien warrior with the blond hair?"

"Yes, she is a beauty isn't she? Can't believe she accepted!!"

'The race barrier was the only reason a female would refuse him for' that was what Hir had in mind 'If she was a human it would have been hard for her to find an excuse to avoid his approach'

The real reason is that Seven didn't have confidence in himself though. he is strong and wealthy, not on the handsome side but still, he has everything that makes him a desirable male, rejecting him is a form of madness in itself.

"oh, don't misunderstand me though" Seven put on an evil grin "I may take one or two to serve me every now and then, cat-girl maids are must after all"

"…sigh" Iris gave up.

Hir was already willing to offer him what he d.e.s.i.r.ed, as long as his people got a safe place to live and enough food to survive.

Seven walked back to his seat and entered into deep thoughts for sometime. After a period of silence he restarted the conversation with a more serious tone

"I don't know much about how politics work outside, but what I know is that your request won't be an easy thing to grant"

"I understand…"

"I'm willing to take you in, but I have a few things I want to get back in return" Seven held up three fingers "the first is loyalty, I get the final say in everything, and all you answer to me alone" he folded one finger and continued with the second "I will be issuing a few rules, those who break them will either leave or lose their life" leaving one finger up he stated the final one "I may bring in other species in the future, and you wont get a say in it"

"… if we weren't ready to follow your orders I wouldn't have requested that you take us in" Hir felt a bit uneasy. Giving up his authority over his people and handing their fate to someone else, when you think about it, it does sound incompetent. But with Vee gone and the Verta's power in someone else's hands it's either accept submission or doom.

"As for the matter with other species, I will have to trust that you can keep the peace"

"What about your people? Are they willing to live under someone else's rule?" he might be the head of their clan, but for him to decide their fate on his own? Iris couldn't believe they would listen to him when they hear what he intends on doing.

"I don't believe that would be a problem" Hir explained "all you need is to show them your power. You are their lord after all"

"They can't really see her right? How are we going to convince them she is there?"

"We won't" Hir moved his eyes from Iris to Seven "they saw you overpower me, you are the one who would need to play that part"

"now you want me to pretend being the god of your little cult group?"

""Precisely. Herara have strong instincts that force them into obeying those more powerful. You proved your are stronger than me, once they get to feel your power and understand how similar it is to mine their doubts would instantly vanish"

"Isn't that way too easy?"

"Just in case, you can absorb all my thunder until I no longer can produce any. Then we can say your ability to withdraw the blessing I had proves that you are indeed Verta"

"…. Making to story too complex may end up blowing in our face" leaning back with his eyes on the ceiling Seven did some more thinking. He already decided to take them in, if that's what they want. But if they disagreed to his terms, would he just shut the deal down?

'They were asking for help so being picky isn't something they could afford…'

He had no obligation to do it after all. his house, his rules

"by the way, I don't remember ever hearing your name" breaking the silent, Seven asked the previous clan head.

Understanding that he arrived to a conclusion, Hir put both fists on the floor "I'm Hir, just Hir" he then bowed his head "we will be in your care"