A/N: Kregg Time!
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General Kregg had been a loyal son of Viltrum all his life. Having been around since the time of Emperor Argall himself, he had never once wavered in his belief in Viltrumite Superiority and Supremacy. Strength was all that mattered and the Viltrumites had plenty of it. 'All is Ours' wasn't just an aspiration, it was fact. Everything belonged to Viltrum… the rest of the universe just hadn't known it yet.
This was what Kregg had spent thousands of years believing and fighting for. First under Emperor Argall and then under Grand Regent Thragg. He had never once harbored doubts towards either leader. Both were great men and he was happy to serve them with every fiber of his being.
… But now Kregg wasn't sure what to think. Thragg was dead and the only thing keeping Kregg from rebelling outright was the fact that his killer had not been nearly so cowardly as the First Traitor. Indeed, by all accounts, Argan had confronted Thragg face to face and the two had done battle openly, their incredible power even by Viltrumite standards clashing in a cataclysmic show of force that had left rubble where Argall's Fortress once stood.
He had never considered himself much of a poet, but even Kregg had to admit there was something poetic about the Emperor's palace and throne, that which had stood for thousands of years even after Argall's assassination, being destroyed alongside the man who had done everything in his power to preserve it.
Because that… that was what Kregg struggled to admit to himself. That deep down inside, in his darker moments… he actually thought Argan was right. Thragg was an incredibly powerful warrior and an iron-fisted ruler, but he was also a weapon. He had always been meant as a weapon, something Kregg was old enough to know quite well.
His place at the Emperor's side had been more akin to that of a sword than anything else. Thragg was Emperor Argall's right hand more than he was a right hand man. Argall merely had to give the orders and Thragg would see them carried out without question.
Still, Kregg did believe Thragg had stepped up and done well in the immediate aftermath of Argall's assassination. The Great Purge had been a necessary evil that had culled the weakness from Viltrum and brought those who survived it all the closer together in unified purpose.
That, Kregg had never taken issue with. No… rather, it was the Scourge Virus and its aftermath where Thragg's limits as a leader had been tested… and he had perhaps failed them as their Grand Regent. Not that Kregg had ever blamed him or given voice to his reservations.
The Scourge Virus was not the sort of enemy one could fight… merely survive. And so very few of them had survived, in the end. With only fifty Viltrumites left out of billions, Kregg really has no idea what he would have done, were he Grand Regent instead of Thragg.
Holding the Empire, keeping their territory, and continuing the expansion set forth by the Emperor… Kregg suspects he might have done the same if he was in charge. At least for a time. However… he doubts he would have continued to do so for a thousand years.
For the past several centuries, Kregg had seen the cracks forming all over the Viltrumite Empire. As its sole remaining General, he had been perfectly positioned to watch as they were stretched thinner and thinner and as more and more things began to fall through the cracks. At a certain point they stopped being cracks and started being gaping holes big enough for a planet to fly through, really.
That their lacking population and overall weakness had not been revealed to the universe at large at any point in the last thousand years had been nothing short of a herculean effort that Kregg had put everything he had into. It was not some miracle, though sometimes it certainly felt like one. No, Kregg had done everything in his power to maintain the façade of Viltrumite Invincibility… and by and large, he'd succeeded for the most part. An impossible task… but he'd gotten it done.
But that was just it. Once upon a time, it wasn't a façade. Once upon a time, Viltrumite Invincibility was real. It was fact. In his darker moments, Kregg had despaired of it being so ever again.
So yes… while Thragg's death had left him reeling, part of him couldn't help but be hopeful for what the future held under his successor. Their new Grand Regent seemed to have a plan, one that involved rebuilding rather than simply maintaining. If they could repopulate their numbers, if they could put the Viltrumite back in Viltrumite Empire… then maybe, just maybe, they could regain their former glory.
And yet… it was hard for Kregg not to have doubts when Argan went and did things like sparing that brute Conquest. As useful of an attack dog as the hulking Viltrumite had always been, Kregg did not truly believe Conquest was necessary for the future of Viltrum… not based on what Argan had told him he wanted to do next.
So then why did the man, a monster even by Viltrumite standards, still draw breath? Kregg had asked that very question of Argan, knowing by now that their new Grand Regent would not punish him simply for asking questions. But instead of giving him a satisfying answer, Argan had told Kregg to go and speak with Conquest himself. Only, he'd insisted on referring to the Viltrumite Warrior as 'Carl' of all things.
Obviously, talking to the brute was the last thing Kregg wanted to do, so he'd put it off for a couple of days. Days in which he was well aware that Argan and Anissa had gone off to… begin the first stages of Argan's plans for their people's future.
As General, Kregg had made himself busy welcoming back each and every Viltrumite arriving on planet from across the universe, assigning them temporary lodgings and giving them things to do to keep them busy until all had returned and they could finally find out what Argan intended for them to do next.
… But now there was just one Viltrumite still off-planet and no sign of whether or not he would return today or tomorrow or the next. The Great Nolan had been sent on a secret mission by Thragg himself twenty years ago, a mission so clandestine that even Kregg did not know what it was. All he'd known was the other Viltrumite's location, allowing him to send the recall message. Find the original chapter at novelping . com.
Hopefully Nolan would arrive soon, but in the meantime Kregg was left directionless and without any way of filling his time… and so he'd found himself gravitating to the planet's one working medical facility, where a certain broken Viltrumite was currently being healed on their Grand Regent's orders.
Kregg isn't sure what he's expecting when he steps into the room where Conquest lies in bed, his broken limbs still healing. His missing arm has already been replaced, giving the Viltrumite Warrior an appendage to use to feed himself and take care of other things at least. The flesh and blood limbs are still all on the mend.
Conquest looks up at his arrival, his one remaining eye widening for a moment before narrowing in thought.
"… General."
Kregg narrows his own eye back, staring at Conquest… trying to figure out why the hell Argan spared him. In the end, he can't think of a single damn reason. They already have far more male Viltrumites than they do female Viltrumites left. While each and every Pure Blood Viltrumite could be said to be valuable for Argan's plans, surely losing a ticking time bomb like this one would not be too bad, right?
Ultimately…
"Why do you think our Grand Regent spared your life, Conquest?"
Conquest stiffens, his jaw clenching and his mechanical hand curling into a fist.
"… I don't go by that name anymore. I go by Carl now."
Kregg is taken aback by how soft spoken the larger Viltrumite sounds. He sounds almost… fragile. His normal boisterousness, his sadism and cruelty and brutal nature… are nowhere to be seen. An act? Perhaps. But the Grand Regent himself had mentioned this 'Carl' thing. While Kregg certainly wouldn't respect it if it had just come from Conquest… if the Grand Regent said so and the Viltrumite Warrior said so… then fine.
"Very well. Carl. Why do you think our Grand Regent spared your life?"
Rather than immediately answer the question, 'Carl' seems to ponder it for a moment, mulling it over. Until finally, he just shrugs.
"He has a use for me still."
Kregg can't help the incredulous look that spreads across his face. Seeing it, 'Carl' lets out a low laugh.
"You shouldn't be so surprised, General. It's the same reason I've survived all this time, is it not? The Great Purge, the Scourge Virus, the Rognarr… I only still live and breathe because Grand Regent Thragg and yourself had a use for me."
What? There was no way this brute was really that perceptive all this time. Surely not, right?
And yet, 'Carl' just looks down at himself, at his mechanical hand and his broken limbs.
"I fought and killed for you. I committed countless atrocities in the name of Viltrumite Progress. I served because the Grand Regent would have had my head otherwise. If it weren't for him… perhaps I would have been Grand Regent. I was always stronger than you, General. But… I don't think having me in charge would have gone very well."
A shiver runs down Kregg's spine at that. It wasn't like he hadn't ever thought about it, even if the thought experiment always gave him chills to even contemplate. There was no denying that after Thragg, Conquest had long been the second most powerful Viltrumite in the Empire. Only with the birth of Argan and his eventual growth into the warrior he'd become had that come into question.
But Thragg had always kept the issue from being fully resolved, preferring to leave who was truly the second strongest after him ambiguous. Kregg had always believed that was the right call… if Conquest had ever learned he was truly surpassed by 'the whelp' as he'd liked to call Argan, he might very well have gone berserk.
Still, setting aside Argan's existence entirely, if Thragg had not been Grand Regent, or if Kregg had been less valuable to the Viltrumite Leader… he's fully aware that Conquest would have been able to kill him any time. The only thing holding the other Viltrumite back had been Thragg… and now Argan.
That said, the ability for 'Carl' to look inward and recognize he was ill-suited to lead was… more self-awareness than Kregg had ever personally subscribed to the larger Viltrumite. You are reading on NovelPing, the official source.
Despite himself, he finds his curiosity firmly piqued at this point. He'd been reluctant to have this conversation even after their new Grand Regent had all but ordered him to do it… and yet now he approaches Carl's bedside, tilting his head to the side.
"… And what do you think will happen now? How do you think that our new Grand Regent will use you… use us?"
Carl looks surprised that Kregg is even asking for a moment… and then he hesitantly begins to speak, offering his opinion. And Kregg, for the first time in thousands of years, finds himself listening to the words coming out of the bigger Viltrumite's mouth and actually giving them his consideration.
He never would have thought someone like Conquest would be able to hold an intellectually stimulating conversation with him. And yet, it's like he's already been told. Conquest is gone. Kregg can't bring himself to mind. Carl is far more interesting anyways.
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At long last, he's home. It should be a moment of true excitement and reverie, but as Nolan hovers in Viltrum's upper atmosphere, having flown past the rings of billions of Viltrumite corpses orbiting the planet, he stares down at the empty architecture below and feels… anxious.
Why? He is a loyal warrior of Viltrum. He would have killed the Guardians of the Globe back on Earth, men and women and aliens that he'd fought and lived alongside for years, in just a few more hours if Kregg's recall orders hadn't come through.
So then why was he worried about coming home? Why was he so trepidatious about what the future would hold now that Argan was Grand Regent? Why did part of him almost wish he'd ignored the recall orders and stayed on Earth?
… No, Nolan knows that part of him is foolish at best and self-sabotaging at worst. They have his coordinates. They know where he was sent on his mission. And Nolan isn't nearly stupid enough to think that they would let him slip away. Not when there are so few Viltrumites left in the universe.
Besides, as much as Nolan… cares for Debbie and Maya, his true loyalty will always be to the Empire. It must be to the Empire. Even if he's ordered to never return to Earth, to abandon his wife and daughter permanently… Nolan will not disobey. He can't.
He-
"Nolan."
Whipping around, Nolan's breath hitches as he lays eyes on his new Grand Regent for the first time. Not that it's the first time he's ever seen Argan to be clear, but it's the first time he's seen the other Viltrumite in his father's attire, wearing his father's furred cloak across his broad shoulders.
Like Thragg before him, Argan exudes power. He does not look like a child playing dress up… no, he fills out the Grand Regent's uniform and wears the cloak upon his shoulders perfectly. In that moment, Nolan almost sees Thragg overlaid over his son's face and body. The only difference is, Thragg had a resting scowl on his features, and eyes that were perpetually narrowed like he thought you might be scheming against Viltrum at any moment.
Argan, meanwhile, has no such suspicion in his eyes or face. He looks as stern as his father ever did, and Nolan can find not an ounce of weakness in his body… but at the same time, he feels more welcoming than Thragg ever was. His next words only intensify that feeling.
"Welcome home. Come… we all have much to discuss."
With that, Argan turns and begins to fly down. And Nolan… Nolan lets out a breath he hadn't known he was holding and follows Argan down. His concerns, his anxiety, and his worries… all fade away.
He realizes now that he was worried Argan would not be the leader his father was. And while it's clear he's not entirely like Thragg… Nolan doesn't doubt for a second that Argan will be the leader they need for what is to come.
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A/N: Nolan remains a loyal son of Viltrum!
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